What to do/not do with your hands BEFORE putting them in the tank

[Cliving1]

I hope to start a comical/serious thread on what to and not to do before putting your hands (or arm) inside of your tank. I have always been curious on when/when not to put my hand inside the tank. The last thing we want to do is introduce something into our tanks, but what if you were unaware and you were not sure what things were potentially hurting your tank you never knew about? What I mean by this is...

Wash your hands- good/bad?

Work on a car- good/bad?

Just finished playing with a dog/cat (other animal)- good/bad?

etc

etc

And Go!

(oh and for comical posts keep it to RC approved )

 

[pyithar]

i usually wear a long sleeve glove especially when touching/moving corals. i have allergic reactions from bubble corals tentacles everytime i touch them.

 

[Waters40]

I always wash and rinse my hands before putting them into the tank.

 

[kmbyrnes]

Wash and rinse as far as I am going in ( hands, elbows, shoulders )
If I need to do multiple tanks, I do the DT first, then the QT, then any TTM in progress.

 

[Cliving1]

Alright gloves for pyithar and anyone else who has reactions.

I also wash my hands with anti bacterial soap before going in, does this cause any harm to coral if I was to move them?

 

[johnike]

Flea and tick meds and yard stuff like Roundup.
Wash thine hands!

 

[Cliving1]

Great point John. If one is to do yardwork, don't put your hands directly into the tank! See if a significant other can help before you wash your hands!

I have always been curious about this one, if one was to smoke, is that detrimental if one was to put their hands in the tank?

 

[Sk8r]

Yes. Wear gloves.

 

[RayAllen3422]

What gloves do you all use?

 

[Scorpius]

I don't wear gloves. No issues yet...

 

[Kentech5]

Ive got those big blue and red shoulder length gloves. Limit dexterity but my dwarf lion likes to charge at my arms looking for food.

 

[rjjr1963]

I turn a lot of wrenches in the garage so I ask my wife to stick her hands in the tank. lol

 

[Cliving1]

There we go rjjr! I was looking for those type of posts. Like

(female example) possibly nail polish is bad.

Or wearing heavy cologne?

 

[Martini5788]

Nail polish shouldn't cause any issues once it is dry. Nail polish remover though, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly if you have taken nail polish off and reapplied after
It has dried

 

[Kentech5]

I refuse to go near my tanks after putting flea medication on the animals. No fish fun for me that day.

 

[theatrus]

What gloves do you all use?

Standard nitrile exam gloves. Fine for moving corals and keeping oils and coral slime away from each other. Not puncture proof by any means.

 

[kmbyrnes]

Standard nitrile exam gloves. Fine for moving corals and keeping oils and coral slime away from each other. Not puncture proof by any means.

Especially since my Maroon clown hates them worse than my bare hands. Tears holes in them the minute I put my hands in the tank with gloves on.

 

[WaReefer458]

I rinse my hands but don't use soap. Maybe it's just paranoia but I have a feeling that if I use soap I won't get them rinsed good enough and come back to my tank foaming up like when I was 16 in my first apartment and put dish soap in the dish washer. I still have nightmares about that. Walked into my house to find 2' deep of soap suds covering my kitchen and hallway. That was a fun cleanup.

 

[thelawnwrangler]

what gloves does everyone suggest- I always touch my frags by the plug if I can. I also avoid touching them. Everytime I touch a Zoa my eye is irritated the rest of the afternoon because I know I should have worn gloves and I am scared I got poisoned.

 

[Deefish714]

Same as lawnwrangler. I never use gloves then I trip out and itch my eyes and get all paranoid.