Fish diseases we can catch :0

[loubeardy]

my friend thought it would be ammusing to tag me in an article about all the diseases we can catch from our fish and tank water. My friend is NOT funny! now I'm worried about getting something from my tank. my tank is right next to my bed so sometimes water splashes on to my bed! and I have poured water down the sink and used kitchen bowls :0 I tried googling statistics/ how likely it is that I'll catch something and came up with zip.
does any one have any info on this?
has any one where got ill before by fish tank?
should I be panicking about this?
do you wash your hands after working on your tank? or wear gloves?
do you clean uo water spills on the floor? (if so how?!)

 

[aseradyn]

I don't have specifics on diseases, but I do believe in the power of soap and water

I wash my hands and arms after the've been in the tank. I have aquarium-only buckets and cups and pans, mostly to protect the fish. I do often use the kitchen for washing tank stuff, but then I wash the area down, just as I would after preparing raw meats. My aquarium clean-up towels are just old bath towels and kitchen towels, and I throw them in the laundry with everything else.

My gut feeling is that if you take some basic precautions and do not have a compromised immune system, the odds of becoming sick from it are tiny.

 

[coralbandit]

It is the compromised immune system that comes into play most often.
You are more a factor in getting a disease from your fish then they are...
After that TB [ Mycobacterium marinum. ] is #1 and not as uncommon as most would think.
The studies that site averages count every single person on earth,not just the people who would actually have exposure to it, thus not be a true portrayal of keepers getting sick.I have read of at least 4 diagnosed cases on forums over the last couple years.
That being said if you are healthy I would not sweat it....

 

[Delapool]

Fish TB can apparently transfer to humans. If a fish is showing symptoms of that then I'd be very careful.

Other than that risk is very low that I know of. Possibly getting spiked by a catfish or something might be painful.

Probably more risk of electrocution or getting some kind of shock.

Using liquid carbon (glut) I'm careful with it to avoid breathing it and wash hands after. Mainly to avoid building any sensitivity to it (I'm assuming I'll be using it for decades).

 

[loubeardy]

eeek! wow 4! that's higher than I'd expected. as far as I can tell, being new, my fish looks healthy and his behavior is healthy too so fingers crossed he is safe! will wash my hands after I have gone near the tank now! I feel ocd coming on
...

 

[Harry Muscle]

Fish TB is the only documented disease that can transfer. However in humans it's just a rash.

Harry

 

[nirbhao]

I don't have specifics on diseases, but I do believe in the power of soap and water

I wash my hands and arms after the've been in the tank. I have aquarium-only buckets and cups and pans, mostly to protect the fish. I do often use the kitchen for washing tank stuff, but then I wash the area down, just as I would after preparing raw meats. My aquarium clean-up towels are just old bath towels and kitchen towels, and I throw them in the laundry with everything else.

My gut feeling is that if you take some basic precautions and do not have a compromised immune system, the odds of becoming sick from it are tiny.

Ditto to all of this except that I save the soap until after I'm done. I use hand sanitizer while I am still doing stuff that requires me to put my hands in the tank.

 

[loubeardy]

Fish TB is the only documented disease that can transfer. However in humans it's just a rash.

Harry

that is certainly reassuring. bit I heard there was more... I thought there was around 5

 

[Andy Sager]

Here's a link to all that info via the government. https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/pets/fish.html

Make sure you read through the 4 tabs to get all the info.

Hope this helps ( and calms you down. )

 

[loubeardy]

Here's a link to all that info via the government. https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/pets/fish.html

Make sure you read through the 4 tabs to get all the info.

Hope this helps ( and calms you down. )

very useful link, thank you not sure it's calmed me down though as the first 2 months of having my tank I never used gloves or washed my hands. safe to say I'm worried and worried that my dog though it would be a tasty treat to eat one of my filter pads after I through it out :'( I don't think I'll be making fish keeping a permanent hobby ...

 

[Andy Sager]

very useful link, thank you not sure it's calmed me down though as the first 2 months of having my tank I never used gloves or washed my hands. safe to say I'm worried and worried that my dog though it would be a tasty treat to eat one of my filter pads after I through it out :'( I don't think I'll be making fish keeping a permanent hobby ...

Well, maybe this will help I have been keeping fish for over 50 years. I have worked with domesticated fish as well as many varieties of wild fish and I have never, NEVER contracted a disease from my fish. Just by being a little careful, you should not have many issues because of the fish. As for your dog eating a filter pad, do you routinely let your dog eat food out of your garbage can? I would think not. If you are that concerned that it will, just put the pad into a bag and throw it out in your outdoors can. If you really want to, you can prevent it from happening.
Bottom line, my roommate got Salmonella from her cat, my Mother and Sister had allergies to our dog, I lost a monkey to bronchitis which I gave to the monkey ( I also kept one for 21+ years) and I got bitten by a friend's dog that got infected but as I said, never had a fish related issue.

 

[Delapool]

While not of the same length, of over 4 decades doing stuff like fish keeping, fishing, pets in general, hobby farms, some exposure to abattoirs, large farms - never caught anything.

 

[Toad]

Yeah I was going to say, I've been lazy about washing up after tank issues, swam in rivers, streams, creek and the ocean and I have yet to catch anything. It's not something I really worry about unless I have a cut on a hand and then I'll just use the other hand.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[loubeardy]

Well, maybe this will help I have been keeping fish for over 50 years. I have worked with domesticated fish as well as many varieties of wild fish and I have never, NEVER contracted a disease from my fish. Just by being a little careful, you should not have many issues because of the fish. As for your dog eating a filter pad, do you routinely let your dog eat food out of your garbage can? I would think not. If you are that concerned that it will, just put the pad into a bag and throw it out in your outdoors can. If you really want to, you can prevent it from happening.
Bottom line, my roommate got Salmonella from her cat, my Mother and Sister had allergies to our dog, I lost a monkey to bronchitis which I gave to the monkey ( I also kept one for 21+ years) and I got bitten by a friend's dog that got infected but as I said, never had a fish related issue.

that deffinetly helps. and no my dog has never even tried to take anything from the bin... but he doed have a fascination with my rank and saw me put stuff in the bag.... he was very sneaky about it too!

 

[loubeardy]

OK mind has been put at rest a little now thank you guys.
in surprised you don't even get warned about this is reputable pet stores,... is that because it's so uncommon... though wouldn't it still be good practise to mention it to beginners? .

 

[Delapool]

More risk of injury carrying all your new purchases out to the car (and I've yet to see any store warn on that ).

 

[Andy Sager]

OK mind has been put at rest a little now thank you guys.
in surprised you don't even get warned about this is reputable pet stores,... is that because it's so uncommon... though wouldn't it still be good practise to mention it to beginners? .

It's so rare that it's not really mentioned nor were stores told they were required to tell people of it. Keep in mind, you don't get any kind of info like that about small rodents, dog or cat bites or chickens either. All those COULD be carrying something too. :^0

 

[Harry Muscle]

that is certainly reassuring. bit I heard there was more... I thought there was around 5

Based on the link from CDC looks like there a few more. I was basing my answer on a veterinarian book on fish from around 15 years ago. Guess things have progressed.

Thanks,
Har

 

[pmvaldon]

None. fish specific diseases are not communicable to humans.

 

[Andy Sager]

None. fish specific diseases are not communicable to humans.

Except that fish can also carry non fish "specific" diseases so while you may not get an Ich infestation in your gut or a good case of fin and tail rot on your hands. You can get some issues from live fish. That plus the rarity of such things happening was the point we were trying to make.