WEAR GLOVES!

[Anonymous]

A friend of mine (some of you would know him as one of the rowdier pirates at our annual IMAC pirate party) spent over a week in the hospital with an infection. He got it through a cut on his finger while working on his tanks. Luckily, he found out yesterday he's not going to lose his hand.

Now, I've heard folks talking about using gloves ... Anthony Calfo always reminds us to use them when he's doing fragging demos in workshops ... but do I wear them every time I've got my hands in the tank? When I'm scraping the glass with a razor blade? No, I don't. Well, from now on, I WILL.

Even if you don't have venomous fish in your tank, tropical fish and corals can carry wicked germs, folks, like mycobacteria and other nasty stuff. Please wear gloves and be careful.

 

[pwj1286]

My mom got a marine infection before when she stuck her hand in my tank to position a coral.

Her finger got all puffy, she took antibitics and she was fine.
_________________
Mercedes Benz CLS Class

 

[Anonymous]

Clare, see my "stabbed by my rabbitfish" thread.. I had on two pairs of gloves, and the lil SOB got through them

Needless to say if I have any cuts/scrapes on my hands I put on latex
If I dont, well I'm a guy, and I have a workshop/garage area downstairs, so I usually do.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, I saw the rabbitfish thread. I told my friend I'm getting one, and a lionfish and a blue-ringed octopus when he gets better!

 

[Talonstorm]

What kind of gloves do you all use? I have the aqua gloves (you know, the orange and blue ones). They are great as I don't contaminate my tank and my arms stay dry, but the glove itself is so bluky, I don't have the dexterity required to do certain things (like move small objects, scrape algae, etc.) in my tank.

Tina

 

[Rlumenator]

This is funny- I wear gloves to protect the tank from lotions, etc. I never thought about protecting myself!

 

[Anonymous]

I use the standard latex ones you can pick up at home depot or someplace. Then if I care about your arms, I go with a veterinary glove ontop of that (ones where they go where no man should go on a horse or cow or other large farm animal... *bleh*) anyways they aren't built terribly sturdy, but they are cheap $5 for about 50 online (not at an aquarium store), so if they spring a leak then they get replaced no biggy... but biggest of all when you combine them with latex you get decent protection plus all the manual dexterity of being without gloves, something which can't be said for those big blue & orange gloves.

 

[Len]

I wear powderless latex gloves with a rubberband around my wrist to keep the water out. I used to wear full shoulder-length gloves because I developed a terrible rash on my forearm when it came in contact with seawater. It all started when I scrapped up my forearm against some Acropora stags in my previous tank. That problem seemed to have gone away after 5+ years so I rarely wear shoulder-length now.

 

[FragMaster]

Same here but only when I frag. (powderless latex gloves with rubber bands I mean) You just have to be gentle.

 

[melas]

so do you "glovers" wear gloves when petting your dogs and cats? humans can contract e. coli, campylobacter, ring worm, toxocariasis, and salmonella from our furry friends though few people consider that while fido's licking their face (not to mention all the infections possible from bites and scratches). :wink: just playing the devil's advocate. . . i got campylobacter a few years ago from "beaver pee" on a white water rafting trip. . . changed my life. . .

 

[melas]

double post!

 

[Fastmarc]

It's a bit hard for me to get the powderless latex gloves, but I have been assured by both Anthony and Eric that they do no harm. I just rubberband them at the wrist, give them a quick rinse and get to work.

 

[Talonstorm]

Interesting. I had actually considered the "cow gloves", but I didn't know of a source for them online. sfsuphysics: can you pm me with the retailer that carries these?

Thanks,
Tina

 

[FragMaster]

There are huge differences in things that can get your sick ( IE most things contracted from water rafting or dog grooming) and thing that can kill you inside 30 minutes or less ( IE PLAYTOXINS FROM PALYTHOAS).

 

[Anonymous]

I've never worn gloves.

Seems that when I frag my frogspawn I always get a little itchy somewhere on my hands. Other from that, I've never had any issue with getting stung.

My hands do get little cuts and stuff and I never have worried about that either. The day I relocated my 75G to make room for my 300, I cut myself pretty good right before they guys showed up to help me. I wrapped that finger with a paper towel and continued moving the livestock. I didn't really have a choice. Still didn't have any issue with infections or what not.

Are some people more susceptible to that sort of thing? Or am I just lucky so far?

Louey

 

[trido]

You are one of the tough ones Louey. Its all about immunity. What doesnt hurt you today can kill you tomorrow depending on your immune system.
Maybe luck too. Im sure in your line of work you are getting cut and beat up all the time. Probably helps to keep your immune system strong.

 

[trido]

You are one of the tough ones Louey. Its all about immunity. What doesnt hurt you today can kill you tomorrow depending on your immune system.
Maybe luck too. Im sure in your line of work you are getting cut and beat up all the time. Probably helps to keep your immune system strong.

 

[melas]

FragMaster said:

There are huge differences in things that can get your sick ( IE most things contracted from water rafting or dog grooming) and thing that can kill you inside 30 minutes or less ( IE PLAYTOXINS FROM PALYTHOAS).

seemed to me we were talking about infections and not toxicity of a singular group of animals. if you have venomous animals in your tank then yeah :idea: you should take appropriate precautions. placing healthy, clean hands into your tank to scrape algae poses very little risk of injury.

 

[Anonymous]

The person I mentioned got an infection, not a sting or rash. The cultures aren't done yet, but if it's mycobacteria, he's gonna need intravenous antibiotics for six months. As in, catheter from forearm to heart. It was really a close call as to whether or not he'd keep all his fingers or even his hand.

All from tank water and a ragged cuticle. 8O

I wear unpowdered latex gloves, myself, but I'll be upgrading to the whole-arm rubber gloves as soon as I can.

 

[melas]

how long did the person wait to seek treatment? Mycobacterium marinum (which is what i assume you are speaking about) infections typically take several days, weeks, and even months to manifest serious symptoms. if an individual gets themselves to a doctor immediately it is usually fought with antibiotics with no lasting symptoms. Not trying to down play your friends condition. . . just think these things can be avoided with common sense. . . i mean does everyone where gloves while cleaning their skimmer, sump, pumps, frozen fish foods, fish nets, etc? maybe you do i don't know. Mycobacterium marinum infections are reported each year from swimming in oceans and bays too.