Gloves

[Steven Tarise]

I work with marines all day long, and rarely wear gloves. I think a lot of it is scaremongering. I've been at it over a year now, hands in and out of water all day long, with and without cuts, and I've never had a single cut become infected. Trust me, I get a lot of cuts. Doesn't sting when you get saltwater into them. Only time I do is when I'm handling nems because I seem to be especially prone to their stings. Long spine urchins are virtually no risk, provided you know how to pick them up. If you do get stuck by one, the spine will break off, hurt for an hour or so, then you'll forget about it. All other common urchins lack the spine strength to penetrate the skin. Just watch out for the venomous ones. Never had any reaction to any coral, hard or soft, and I've handled pretty much all of them. Have been caught by a fireworm pretty badly one time when I grabbed it (was on the other side of a rock, I didn't bother checking), and spent the next 15 minutes pulling out over 100 spiny-hairy things. Soon forgot about it and the pain went away. Get individual bristles in my hands all the time, but you get used to them. Just pull them out again. I have recieved venomous bites and stings too. Gloves wouldn't have done anything to prevent them, and they sting like mad for a little while, then it goes away. Running the wound under the hottest water you can bear is supposed to help.

As for reaction to the salt, it's something I dont really experience, and I'll wash my hands twice a day, tops. I think it's just something that people either get or dont. The only situation where I do get some sort of reaction is if a puddle has been on top of a tank for quite a while, so evaporation has taken most of the water, and the remaining water is at a stupidly high SG. Even then, I have to leave my forearm sat in it for quite some time before it becomes an annoyance. A quick wash with fresh water and ignoring it helps.

So, um, for all those reasons, I voted no