Hand Sanitisers & Aquariums?

[CassCats]

I sort of got a hunch that my ideas are not very good ones.

The gloves are a handy suggestion. Some people use them, you can replace them every so often too.

And feeding with a measuring spoon is good too.

Basically you are offering alternatives to avoid putting hands in as much as possible, and with the way things are at the time, this may be the best solution to prevent accidents if you forget to wash the sanitizer off or whatever, you know?

But hands do eventually find their way back in.

Gloves would be trouble with me, ive got tiny hands so lots of elbow length gloves don't fit well and I can't grab anything using those. But if someone can use the glove idea, its a good suggestion

 

[HoldenOn]

I sort of got a hunch that my ideas are not very good ones.

No, not at all! They are good I'm just not sure how reasonable it is to assume that we can't put our arms in the tank. I really like the link to the tongs, might buy some .

 

[kwi]

I'm not sure if employees would know, below corporate management level.

Some local supermarkets here have Purell-labeled hand sanitizer dispensers at the doors and throughout the stores, but papers taped onto them saying that for cost-saving purposes they are not using Purell brand but an alternative brand that their experts have determined has comparable effectiveness. No indication of what the alternate brand is. I doubt the staff at the local stores know what brand corporate headquarters chose.

I am a poll worker at elections. This past summer at my state's primary election, polling places were supplied with hand sanitizer as well as bottles of a disinfectant solution for wiping down pens and voting equipment between users. I was looking at the label on the bottle to see what brand they were using and what the ingredients were. Someone from the Board of Elections happened to be there checking in on our station. She told me that the stuff in the bottle wasn't actually the product indicated by the label. They were refilling empty bottles with whatever new disinfectant solution they purchased in mass industrial quantities. And when I asked what brand they were using to refill the bottles, she didn't know.

(If someone will post a reminder for me on November 3, I will ask again what brands of hand sanitizer and disinfectant are in the bottles and will report back on whether anyone knows the answer.)

I think the best practice is to wash hands very thoroughly with plenty of soap and water immediately upon coming home. That's good hygiene practice anyway, whether or not you have fish, whether or not there's a pandemic.

Also maybe wear gloves when out, and see if the shops that require and monitor sanitizer use will accept your using their sanitizer on your gloves instead of on your bare skin.

And obviously this wouldn't have helped in NC's situation where a young child made unauthorized contact with aquarium water, but for adults doing routine maintenance, you can wear gloves for that too (only powder-free ones, of course). I've worn gloves when doing water changes for years, mostly because I don't like to have fishy-smelling hands afterward. But it can also protect the fish from anything that may be on your hands.

Did you see that Purell is not deemed effective against this coronavirus by the CDC?

 

[emeraldking]

I haven´t taken any risks using sanitizers before going in tank water with my hands. It´s not worth to risk the lives of those fish.

 

[Gypsy Tart]

The gloves are a handy suggestion. Some people use them, you can replace them every so often too.

And feeding with a measuring spoon is good too.

Basically you are offering alternatives to avoid putting hands in as much as possible, and with the way things are at the time, this may be the best solution to prevent accidents if you forget to wash the sanitizer off or whatever, you know?

But hands do eventually find their way back in.

Gloves would be trouble with me, ive got tiny hands so lots of elbow length gloves don't fit well and I can't grab anything using those. But if someone can use the glove idea, its a good suggestion

How about putting on plastic gloves and for the arms transparent food film?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

How about putting on plastic gloves and for the arms transparent food film?

That just seems very wasteful.

There isn't a problem to put your hand/arm into the tank, if your hands/arms are clean, and you don't have any open cuts.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

We had just got home and I started putting groceries away. Kid ran off and went and played, but then came back and told me he was letting the fish nibble his hands in the 55. It wasn't even 10 minutes being home.

Hes 5.

Its hard to not be really angry with him, because im furious with him, but he didn't realize he had stuff on his hands. I have to be rational but man I want to ground him until he's an old man for this.

Not telling you how to raise your kids (cause I am a kid, lol), but my parents make us (siblings and me) wash our hands every single time we come back from out in public, especially now that COVID-19 has taken off.

Also a lid (tight fitting) will help stop him from reaching in there in the future.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

grrr ‘that kid!!!’

(Heard that to much in my life. )

 

[CassCats]

Not telling you how to raise your kids (cause I am a kid, lol), but my parents make us (siblings and me) wash our hands every single time we come back from out in public, especially now that COVID-19 has taken off.

Also a lid (tight fitting) will help stop him from reaching in there in the future.

Usually we do. Problem is we were putting groceries away and he ran off to play before we got to him. Kid has the attention span of a gnat, I swear.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Not telling you how to raise your kids (cause I am a kid, lol), but my parents make us (siblings and me) wash our hands every single time we come back from out in public, especially now that COVID-19 has taken off.

Also a lid (tight fitting) will help stop him from reaching in there in the future.

Funny, now that my parents are elderly, I have to nag them to wash their hands when they come in from outside.

How the tables turn, sadly.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Kid has the attention span of a gnat, I swear.

You mentioned gnats, and I just had to:

One of the funniest memes I've ever seen.

 

[Jim Sinclair]

Usually we do. Problem is we were putting groceries away and he ran off to play before we got to him. Kid has the attention span of a gnat, I swear.

I think I saw a mention of ADHD in this thread. I don't know if your kid actually has that diagnosis, or if he's just a typical 5-year-old with a typical 5-year-old immature brain. 5-year-olds aren't generally known for having great impulse control.

I don't have kids of my own, but have taught, mentored, and quasi-fostered kids with an alphabet soup of developmental atypicalities. With attention deficits and/or impulse control disorders, or just typical immaturity at your kid's age, there is really nothing you can do after the fact to change their behavior in the future. However remorseful he may be about what he's already done, he still liable to do something similar in the future if the impulse strikes him. He'll remember after the fact that he shouldn't have done it, but by then it will be too late.

All you can do is set and maintain and supervise and enforce consistent routines (wash hands immediately upon entering the house, interact with fish only with parental assistance), and HOPE that in the inevitable eventuality that no one is there to supervise, they will stick to the familiar routine. It doesn't always work.

I once spent months consistently teaching a 12-year-old that he needed to call and inform his mother each and every time he was going to enter my vehicle or my home. It didn't matter that he came over almost every day after school. Each and every time, I required him to call his mom and let her know where he was before I let him through the door. And I explained why this was important, and he seemed to understand.

And then he got himself into an exceedingly dangerous situation by cheerfully getting into a car in the middle of the night with strangers who offered to bring him along for a ride to a city 40 miles away. Kids like this are nerve-wracking!

I think your idea of childproofing aquarium covers is a good one.

And now you're aware that he doesn't independently remember to wash his hands right away, so he needs adult supervision to make sure he does it.

 

[CassCats]

I think I saw a mention of ADHD in this thread. I don't know if your kid actually has that diagnosis, or if he's just a typical 5-year-old with a typical 5-year-old immature brain. 5-year-olds aren't generally known for having great impulse control.

I don't have kids of my own, but have taught, mentored, and quasi-fostered kids with an alphabet soup of developmental atypicalities. With attention deficits and/or impulse control disorders, or just typical immaturity at your kid's age, there is really nothing you can do after the fact to change their behavior in the future. However remorseful he may be about what he's already done, he still liable to do something similar in the future if the impulse strikes him. He'll remember after the fact that he shouldn't have done it, but by then it will be too late.

All you can do is set and maintain and supervise and enforce consistent routines (wash hands immediately upon entering the house, interact with fish only with parental assistance), and HOPE that in the inevitable eventuality that no one is there to supervise, they will stick to the familiar routine. It doesn't always work.

I once spent months consistently teaching a 12-year-old that he needed to call and inform his mother each and every time he was going to enter my vehicle or my home. It didn't matter that he came over almost every day after school. Each and every time, I required him to call his mom and let her know where he was before I let him through the door. And I explained why this was important, and he seemed to understand.

And then he got himself into an exceedingly dangerous situation by cheerfully getting into a car in the middle of the night with strangers who offered to bring him along for a ride to a city 40 miles away. Kids like this are nerve-wracking!

I think your idea of childproofing aquarium covers is a good one.

And now you're aware that he doesn't independently remember to wash his hands right away, so he needs adult supervision to make sure he does it.

Yeah he's ADHD as are both myself and my husband. So I understand the lack of impulse control because im that way myself too. I can understand the behaviors because I know first hand its challenging and you just don't get WHY you did something in hindsight. It affects people differently, as it does between kids and adults too. But some things are the same across the variety, and impulse control is one of those. Sometimes just manifests differently in people. Even between male and female, it varies.

Yep, in hindsight he should have washed hands first and it was my fault for not making sure he did right away.

 

[HoldenOn]

Woah woah woah woah. I read this thread not very closely but I feel Miss NC has received undeserving heat for her "parenting" skills. I ask you to look at her tanks and tell me how, if her fish tanks look like that, she isn't one of the best moms ever. The audacity.

 

[AilyNC]

I don't think there's any criticism, I'm hoping it's just observation. My kid threw keys in the tank right in front of me. Kids are fast, parents are sleep deprived. And everything you think you know about kids goes out the window when you have some.

And let's all admit this could have happened any one of us - adults or kids.