Antibacterial Soap

[donttaptheglass]

So lets say I just washed my hands with antibacterial soap . . . . how long before its safe for me to put my hands in the fishtank? Something I can rinse with maybe?

I know it will kill the fish, but washing ones hands is a fact of life . . . what are the stats here?

 

[TCTFish]

That is a good question, but unsure if anyone would know. I can offer a tip though...

After rinsing the soap off in warm water, rinse with cool/cold water. Cold water will rinse off residues better than warm water and you can 'feel' it come off. I got this idea from rinsing spaghetti to wash the pasta of excess starch residue. LOL. The same basic physics does apply

 

[jsoong]

I make it a rule to never wash with soap before putting hand in fish tank - just wash with plain water. I have no idea how much rinsing is needed to get rid of soap residue, so I would rather not get it on me to start with.

 

[Jchillin]

There was a discussion on this awhile back, some good points were made.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=69067&highlight=soap

 

[malkore]

I make it a rule to never wash with soap before putting hand in fish tank - just wash with plain water. I have no idea how much rinsing is needed to get rid of soap residue, so I would rather not get it on me to start with.

this is exactly what I do too. If I've used lotion during the day, I'll wash my hands with something like that foaming soap, because it's a lot lighter and seems to rinse cleanly.
But i'll still wait 30 mins, wash again with just water, all the way to the elbows, then dry with paper towels, since they are always clean and sterile, unlike a towel. (trick I learned from my tattoo artist)

 

[flipz]

trick I learned from my tattoo artist)

[off topic] You can learn a lot from them. [/off topic]

 

[Andyvette]

I am not 100% sure.... but someone with Ivory soap check your label. I know this is what doctors recommend to use on babies being that they are the most "pure" soap out there. I think using Ivory soap the day you will be working on the tank will help because it (shouldnt) contain any anti-bacterial agents. Someone check the label to make sure.

If this is true, do your same rinsing techniques, but that soap should keep the least antibacterial properties off of you without you catching a cold every week

 

[Macrosill]

Use aqua gloves