Itchy Arms After Water Change

[nehpets81]

Wow, the trials and tribulations of my fishkeeping career are continuing.

After every weekly water change, for about a week I get really itchy arms. This has been happening pretty much since Xmas.

After it happened the first time, I changed arms for the next water change and did it left handed but then it happened to my other arm (the first arm became less itchy as time went on). The itchyness seems to last for a week before subsiding, it also looks a bit red (but this could be from me scratching it)

Anyone had anything similar? I hate going to the doctor but is this worth a trip? Are there any common irritants in the fish tank? I have a lot of duckweed that coats my arm each time - could this be the culprit? The only additive I have put in the tank recently is the dechlorinator. The fish are fed flake, daphnae and bloodworm.

It's not just me getting irritated either - my fish flash off the substrate...

 

[Tolak]

Which declorinator do you use, and do you have any previous history of allergies to sulfa drugs?

 

[nehpets81]

Which declorinator do you use, and do you have any previous history of allergies to sulfa drugs?

Interesting you say that as I did change my dechlorinator a while back.

I first started with Nutrafin Aqua plus, when that ran out I tried Tetra Aquasafe and most recently I have changed to API stress coat.

Does the API product contain anything different to the others? I don't believe I have come into contact with Sulfa drugs before...

 

[soybean]

Why not buy a small bottle of a different dechlor and see if you still get a reaction.

Rinse your arms really well once you've done the water change in plain water to get any chemicals off.

Why are your arms getting so submerged anyway?

 

[nehpets81]

Yeah, it's worth a shot. I will try going back to on of the earlier brands and see if that helps.
I'm usually quite good with washing my arms and hands in soap after they have been in the tank.
It is only my forearms up to my elbow that is affected

 

[KRamgren89]

do you have any issues when you swim in lakes or anything?? i get severely itchy when we do our water changes or clean our gravel because your arms are constantly in the water and i have a slight allergy to algae so even a little bit in my tank will set me off. and i cannot even step foot into lakes in my area unless its early summer before all the algae blooms. but even then im still itchy!!

 

[nehpets81]

I don't think I have been in a lake for over 10 years, and even then I had a wetsuit - they are a bit on the cold side!

It could be the algae - I recently reduced lighting in my tank which pretty much got rid of most of it in a week or so but I guess the difference in lighting could have caused a new type of algae to become more dominant? Not sure but definitelt something I will look into if the experiment with the water conditionrer change doesn't help.

 

[OldMan47]

Most dechlorinators contain sodium thiosulphate as the active ingredient. If you are somehow showing an allergic reaction to that chemical, be aware that simple vitamin C will work as a dechlorinator. I have never used it so I don't know the right dosing but it may give you an alternative to commercial dechlorinators.

 

[Tolak]

Another ingredient in dechlorinators, the one that converts ammonia to ammonium, is hydromethane sulfinate. The sulfinate part can cause the same reaction as a sulfa drug in people with allergies to sulfa drugs.