Will rinsing hands w/diluted Povidone Iodine prevent tank-tank transmission?

[sugartooth]

Hello,
I have several tanks I work on in the basement. There is no bathroom or sink in the basement yet so washing hands in between would result in running upstairs at least a dozen times during an hour or so.

If I have a bucket of providone iodine w/RO DI water and I dunked my hands in them before moving on to the next tank, would that be sufficient to prevent tank to tank disease transmission?

Thanks very much.

 

[fishyvet]

If the concentration of iodine is high enough, it should take care of a lot of things... but I wouldn't want the iodine being transfered to the next tank. If you are concerned about transferring diseases from one tank to the next, you can get some cheap shoulder length OB gloves for horses or cows from a place like tractor supply co or petsmart (in the horse section if your store has one). You can just change gloves between tanks and protect yourself and your tanks.

 

[sugartooth]

Thank you very much.

I have been using latex/nitrile (powder free) sometimes. The problem is the mess from drippings as well as my hands. I do wipe my hands with a towel (paper and hand towels used whichever is avail) but I'm worried about containers, small and medium buckets, etc. I figure I can just use Povidone Iodine or similar?

Even if I wipe my hands and arms, I thought I could still transfer things?

I'm worried about such things as water buckets that are used to scoop water to pour into tanks, and touching the edges or getting some tank water on the bucket and going back to the brute can (freshly made water) to scoop out more water.

I do have a dedicated bucket to scoop out of the brute, but realized that I also use plastic cups to do water changes on the nursery tanks, then use that same cup to get freshly made water from that dedicated bucket.

 

[sugartooth]

The reason I ask about a iodine rinse is because for timing, I go from system to system, culture to culture, and often move back and forth instead of completing one tank, then going to the second and never returning to the previous.

For example, I will harvest bbs, then enrich while I feed all the tanks. Any foods that need to be soaked in meds/enrichment will sit while I do top offs, water changes, checks, etc.

Then I try to go from the cleanest system to the dirtiest if I have to work in them. Sometimes I have to make more water too in the middle of it. I try to freshwater rinse my hands in this case, but still worried.

What is the best concentration of Iodine dip to use?
Are there other dips/rinses I can use instead?

If I have exclusively dedicated items for all the systems, storage gets a little ridiculous.....I have 10 separate systems in the basement.

 

[sugartooth]

How about hydrogen peroxide solution/rinse?

 

[fishyvet]

I would disinfect items with 70% isopropyl alcohol and let it evaporate. The problem with a quick dip is that it is contact time that is important for a good kill (like 5 min which isn't practical). The veterinary aquatics specialist at UF recommends the alcohol for disinfection and gloves between tanks.

I guess you could try spraying your hands (gloved or not) with the alcohol and letting evaporate between tanks... but I think that would be suboptimal compared to changing gloves.

 

[sugartooth]

Thank you so much. It's very much appreciated.

That would be a great solution to be able to spray items and let evaporate, as well as spray my hands/gloves.

I can use doubles of each bucket, etc. and alternate spraying/dipping into isopropyl alcohol for the proper contact time and this is a much less expensive solution too.

Thank you once again. All the best to you in the new year.