Safe to put fingers in tank?

[ocminpin]

The fish swarm and come up nibble my fingers when I put them in the tank and slide up and rub against me...
The few week old fry in the other tank come up and all nibble on me...
Is this bad for the water?? Wasn't sure if natural oils on hands would effect the water...

 

[Chino1130]

I put my hands in all the time, never thought much of it. It could be good to give the immune systems of your fiah a work out.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I've wondered about this. I've heard stories of people killing off shrimp after patting their dog when it has flea killer on it. I'm paranoid that I'm going to kill fish with purell because I use it all the time.

 

[tmfish]

I've wondered about this. I've heard stories of people killing off shrimp after patting their dog when it has flea killer on it. I'm paranoid that I'm going to kill fish with purell because I use it all the time.

Putting your hands in the water is not a problem unless your have something on them. Skin cream, any cosmetics, purell should be O.K because it evaporate quickly, but I would'nt do it. I only use a antibacterial soap on my hands. Any type of chemical could cause big problems in a small enclose system like a fish tank.

 

[mfdrookie516]

It's not unless you contaminate with something on your hands like mentioned above. For any fish other than tetras and like sized fish, I exclusively use my hands to move them from tank to tank, bucket to tank, tank to bucket, etc (except plecos... won't do that again).

 

[Bubble_B0y]

I always wash my hands thoroughly before I clean the tank, or anytime I put my hands in the water

 

[eco23]

I always wash my hands thoroughly before I clean the tank, or anytime I put my hands in the water

I agree and do the same thing. I've heard a lot of people recommending never to wash your hands right before going into the tank...but I'd rather take an extra minute and make sure I thoroughly wash them and rinse off any soap...rather than forgetting I just scrubbed the counter down with 409 or something and contaminating it. Forgetting you just pet the dog with flea and tick killer is a great example of something easy to overlook which could potentially be a problem.

 

[maxwellag]

I saw a story on the news about a girl who put her hand in a fish tank when she was a lot younger, and since then it has become severely infected, and they might have to amputate her hand... but this was cause by putting her hand in the tank with an open cut, and not washing it after that.

 

[librarygirl]

I always wash my hands thoroughly before I clean the tank, or anytime I put my hands in the water

Me too. I wash with antibacterial soap and thoroughly rinse and rinse and rinse under hot water. After my hands are in the tank, I do the same thing.

 

[DragonFish71]

Because I constantly have to lotion my hands (Colorado is a very dry state) I wash my hands with Dawn (just the plain blue kind) all the way up to mid-arm. Dawn is a degreaser so it strips all the body oils and lotions. I then rinse for about 10 minutes.

After I've been in a tank, I wash with an anti-bacterial soap. There are some diseases that can be passed to humans. It's rare, but can happen.

My husband says I look like a doctor prepping for surgery.

 

[herp_mommy]

I always wash my hands before and after I hand feed my discus. As long as there's no lotions, perfumes, deodorants, etc on your hands you should be safe for the tank.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Putting your hands in the water is not a problem unless your have something on them. Skin cream, any cosmetics, purell should be O.K because it evaporate quickly, but I would'nt do it. I only use a antibacterial soap on my hands. Any type of chemical could cause big problems in a small enclose system like a fish tank.

Oh I don't think I made myself clear sorry. I use purell but before I put my hands in I switch to antibacterial soap and rinse thoroughly. I'm hooked on purell coz it's so handy after nappy changes lol.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I saw a story on the news about a girl who put her hand in a fish tank when she was a lot younger, and since then it has become severely infected, and they might have to amputate her hand... but this was cause by putting her hand in the tank with an open cut, and not washing it after that.

I heard a story just recently about a toddler who would help his parents feed the fish. He would stick his hands in the tank while doing it. He came down with some rare disease and ended up in hospital.