Is This Safe?

[Spader]

Is it safe to put your hand/arm into a fish tank to move plants etc cause i always hear people doing that but ive never done it. i realy need to put some plants in (live) but i need my hand to put them in

 

[jayjay]

why would it not be safe? unless you've got some sort of stupidly aggressive huge fish that might take your arm off or something, which i highly doubt.

 

[smurfyy_2k3]

just dont wash your hand before you go sticking it in the fish tank(soap + fishies = )

 

[Spader]

i thought the chemicals on your skin can affect the tank like your oils. thats what my sister majoring in biology told me .....

 

[qwikimpss]

Naw, we have natural oils on our skin that are non-toxic as humans aren't venomous animals.

 

[Tolak]

I work with dirty greasy printing equipment all day long. I wash my hands at work with serious hand cleaner, come home & stick my hands in the tanks if need be. Haven't had a problem yet. (This is where we need a 3 eyed fish smilie!)

 

[Spader]

haha ok thanks guys. i gathered up courage and stuck my hand in! yay! now my first living plants are in nice rows to bush out for my soon to be fry!

 

[vancouver]

Wash your hands good after you put them in there.

 

[Qays]

Wash your hands with soap, wash off the soap thoroughly. dry your hands, then stick them in.

I do it all the time because im never happy with my layouts !

 

[andywg]

All this washing of hands...I stick my hands straight in and afterwards will often just dry them on my jeans with no ill effects, and I have super sensitive skin and suffer from Eczma. I doubt the average skin has anything really to worry about in FW.

Obviously the reef tanks seem to contain any multitdue of critters carrying venom so you have to be more careful about what you are doing...

 

[Qays]

I agree with andy. I only run my hands under water briefly.

 

[handsomeboy]

putting your hands in the water is totally nasty. theres all kinds of disgusting things inside the tank, like poop, decomposed food, decomposed plant matter, little tiny bacteria, algae(which smells), etc. i never do it without a watertight glove.

 

[andywg]

putting your hands in the water is totally nasty. theres all kinds of disgusting things inside the tank, like poop, decomposed food, decomposed plant matter, little tiny bacteria, algae(which smells), etc. i never do it without a watertight glove.

All those things exist in the air too, do you wander around in an enviro-suit the whole time as well?

Where do you think the algae and bacteria in our tanks and filters comes from?

 

[dgwebster]

i stick my hands straight in but ALWAYS wash them THOROUGHLY straight after. I think the hygiene comes to me though as I also handle rats, hamsters and now gerbils on regular occasions and I also know just what you can transfer into your mouth from pets....

however when cleaning the filters, i get ichy about the crud i find on it and need gloves

 

[D4N]

why would it not be safe? unless you've got some sort of stupidly aggressive huge fish that might take your arm off or something, which i highly doubt.

lmao