Taking A Dive

holy crap i hope this is in the rite place lol (confused) how do u guys get ready to put ur hands in tank .since my sallylightfoot crab has been dinning on my fish rip gup the goby he or she has to go , ne who do u guys wash ur hands first?

 

If I know I have been in soap or other stuff you wouldn't want in your tank, I do rinse my hands off again before digging around in the tank.

If I have my hands in stuff that is nasty, I won't put my hands in that day at all.

 

cool in just rinse them real good in warm water

 

Like Horkn said, it depends what I've been doing with my hands. I generally try and wear gloves whenever possible but sometimes it's just not realistic. I actually just found powder free vinyl gloves at a kitchen supply store that I'll be using from now on. With a rubber band around my wrist when I need to go beyond wrist deep.
Just make sure as much stuff is off of them (including soap). If I need to use soap I rinse really well and try and wait until I can't smell the soap on my hands anymore.
If I haven't been working with anything too crazy I just rinse with warm water real well and try off on a clean towel or paper towels.
If you have a job where you work with chemicals or some sort of heavy duty oils or something I would be especially careful, I would do a surgical scrubdown and rinse.
I'm definitely overly careful but there are lots of bad things that can go from your hands into the tank and even in reverse into your body, bacterial infections etc.
Remember it's a closed system so everything that gets carried into your tank onto your hands you have to find a way to remove somehow even if it just builds up in your rock or sandbed etc. It might not show up for months or even years depending on what it is.

 

thanks for the details i too sort of have a routine that is similar ecept when im done making the food for my tank i let my cleaner shrimp clean my nails then i rinse. but i got the sally lf crab but he killed gulp and a few others...too ashamed to list

 

I purchased a product from "Coralife" from my LFS, called Aqua Gloves. they are full arm length gloves, advertised as made from the finest PVC material. I have not used them yet so I can not endorse them but they seem like a good alternative to placing your bare hands/arms into your tank.

 

thanks i might grab a pair or maybe not i dont need other shelf item lol