Hand Sanitisers & Aquariums?

[CassCats]

All 6 cherry barbs have been added now. So far all good! Bright, exploring, seemingly stunned they have the whole tank to themselves, but are parading around in a group, the male is already trying to get the girls attention too.

Tomorrow morning if all is still good, I'll add the melon barbs

 

[CassCats]

Yeah... im gonna say the 55 is good.
The cherry barbs are starting to spawn.

 

[Gypsum]

Yeah... im gonna say the 55 is good.
The cherry barbs are starting to spawn.

That's good news. Barbs are probably hoping all the neighbours don't move back.

 

[CassCats]

That's good news. Barbs are probably hoping all the neighbours don't move back.

Jokes on them for morning. Melon barbs will be going back lol then maybe in the evening my BN pleco if all is good. Hes not eating in the tote at all, hasn't come off the sponge filter, so the sooner he gets settled, the sooner he will eat. Luckily he loves wafers and veggies, so even without algae and biofilms in the refreshed 55, he has food sources. Just is too stressed to eat while in the tote. So hes priority after the barbs move back.
I pulled a bit of sponge from another filter as well to avoid a major fish in cycle

 

[eatyourpeas]

So happy to know this is going well!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Beautiful!

 

[Kim Gordon]

Due to the covid 19 that’s happening currently, there lots of folks, myself included now use hand sanitisers quite a number of times during the day every day

Have been reading about hand sanitisers and the ingredients of those seem to be high in alcohol and Aloe Vera as swell as other chemicals that helps deodorise smells etc

Obviously those are dangerous for our fishy friends.

If one was routinely using hand sanitiser gel throughout the day and forget to rinse or wash hands before putting hands into our aquarium, is this truly dangerous for our livestock?

What cures or recommendations would you suggest if something like this was to happen to one of our members?

For example I would suggest the following-

Large water changes
Adding active carbon

Would even moving the livestock to a new tank be recommended as would the hand sanitiser cling on surfaces in the aquarium?

Also will the beneficial bacteria and/or filter media be affected?

Lots of questions and not much answers from my google searches so far.

Gloves

 

[Katov]

Hi! I skimmed through most of the thread, so it is possible that I’ve missed it, but for products like hand sanitizer, you could potentially look up the SDS online for that specific product, and then see what the toxicity is for aquatic life, and at what level. I usually google “name of product SDS”. I do not know if products made outside of the USA are required to have SDS. They may also be called MSDS- material safety data sheets. There can always be other factors at play, like other chemical interactions, but for buying stuff for my house, I like checking out the SDS first I’m sorry if this was suggested already and I’m just repeating stuff.

 

[Airwreck]

It seems I am always coming at the tail end of these threads.
When reading this thread.. it caused a big Hug.. go figure..
Adding my two cents.. if your worried about commercial hand sanitizer. Just carry a small bottle of grain alcohol. It's all natural and you know what's in it. Also there is only two soaps in my house ivory and Dawn. Because all my grey water goes directly in to my yard.
They use Dawn to clean up birds from oil spills. There is another soap called Dr Bronner's Pure Castile soap. It's all organic.
I'm sorry what happened to your fish. As an old timer I never washed my hands before going in my tanks..unless they were filthy. and never had a problem, but we now live in a different world.
Be kind to your son, he didn't know. There is so much new alien stuff he has to deal with now.
Good luck.

 

[kwi]

Gloves

If you're follow proper glove protocol it means a lot of gloves.

 

[CassCats]

Everyone has been moved back by this evening, cycled sponge placed in, refilled media bag of carbon with fresh carbon and hung it in the tank as a precaution.
Within 30 minutes the catfish all stirred up the fresh sand, so its a glorious mess now, but theyre happy to be out of the tote.
The pleco found the new cave I made for him and he also finally came out and took a wafer so hes finally eaten.

Thinking I should be okay, but fingers crossed all the same.

 

[Ch4rlie]

To further @NCaquatics comments about her tank, follow this thread

55g Rebuild

So, for those who aren't aware, I had to completely gut my 55 gallon due to hand sanitizer contamination, wiping out some of my fish. Husband helped me Scrub the tank, rinse it all out, get it all cleaned up. New filter, new filter media, new substrate, new heater, new driftwood, and new rocks...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Retired Viking]

I have been trying to use only soap and water and avoid hand sanitizers except when I go out because I am always reaching into my tanks, It is sad the these accidents happen and fish and fish keepers have to suffer the results of trying to stay germ free. I had noticed a film on my hands after using some types of sanitizers.

 

[Retired Viking]

When I worked before I retired it was normal for me to use hand sanitizers, getting blood on your hands at an accident scene was normal. I would use sanitizers serveral times a day. But some of the sanitizers being used today feel a lot different and leave a residue which I never had to deal with when I worked. There are a lot of companies making sanitizers due to the high demand. Who knows what chemicals they are mixing together to make the sanitizer.

 

[Bluebubbles]

Considering the fact that
1. Hand sanitisers are MADE to kill microorganisms or prevent the growth of microorganisms
2. Microorganisms work pretty damn hard inside both humans and fish to keep us alive
3. Fish being in water with hand sanitiser is the equivalent of humans drinking it
4. A good hand sanitizer has upwards of 60% ethanol and
5. The boiling point of ethanol is about 78ºC (172ºF) So it probably won't evaporate from your hands,
I'm gonna jump on the 'hand sanitser in any amount is not good for your fish' boat.