How Safe Is Aquarium Water To Drink?

[Byron]

Well, the initial question was drinking the tank water, and that is not very safe.  I've had it in my mouth a few times, and never contracted anything.  Still, it is best to understand the risks.  Someone here might be the next casualty.
 
Just spotted the last question in the initial post...tank water is likely to be more risk than clean river water.  In the confines of an aquarium, you have far more fish to water volume.
 
Some argue there is no risk in smoking, but I've no intention to take it up just to find out.

 

[malfunction]

I would think that ingesting tank water can be harmful if you consume a large enough quantity. I've never cultured bacteria growing in a tank (or known anyone that's tried), but I'd assume tank water is teeming with bacteria. Even if these bacteria are not pathogenic I'd think they can still upset your bowel functions, causing cramps, diarrhoea or vomiting. Your body is accustomed to the microbes that you regularly ingest, but may struggle to deal with microbes it's not used to. Isn't this the mechanism behind people becoming sick after drinking water when on holiday in foreign countries? I doubt there's a significant body of scientific literature on this, but that's probably because most people don't regularly consume large substantial quantities of aquarium water.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Opps I missed those stats. But they confirm what i stated. My rsearch showed about 1/2 the cases were fish related in but that included both the hobby and the professional contact- fishing, processing fish, farming fish etc, If you start with the idea that 1/2 the cases come from tanks, then in the USA your odds of getting the diseasefrom a tank are .135 in 100,000. Now those odds work out to about about 1 in 740,000. Here are some odds of being killed by various means:
 

 
ll figures below are for U.S. residents.

Cause of Death

Lifetime Odds

Heart Disease


1-in-5


Cancer


1-in-7


Stroke


1-in-23


Accidental Injury


1-in-36


Motor Vehicle Accident*


1-in-100


Intentional Self-harm (suicide)


1-in-121


Falling Down


1-in-246


Assault by Firearm


1-in-325


Fire or Smoke


1-in-1,116


Natural Forces (heat, cold, storms, quakes, etc.)


1-in-3,357


Electrocution*


1-in-5,000


Drowning


1-in-8,942


Air Travel Accident*


1-in-20,000


Flood* (included also in Natural Forces above)


1-in-30,000


Legal Execution


1-in-58,618


Tornado* (included also in Natural Forces above)


1-in-60,000


Lightning Strike (included also in Natural Forces above)


1-in-83,930


Snake, Bee or other Venomous Bite or Sting*


1-in-100,000


Earthquake (included also in Natural Forces above)


1-in-131,890


Dog Attack


1-in-147,717


Asteroid Impact*


1-in-200,000**


Tsunami*

1-in-500,000

Fireworks Discharge


1-in-615,488

** Perhaps 1-in-500,000
SOURCES: National Center for Health Statistics, CDC; American Cancer Society; National Safety Council; International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; World Health Organization; USGS; Clark Chapman, SwRI; David Morrison, NASA; Michael Paine, Planetary Society Australian Volunteers

 

 

[malfunction]

Undoubtedly, death by mycobacterium isn't the most statistically frequent way for aquarists to kick the bucket, but that doesn't make it completely innocuous. For one thing, open wounds may not be the only way for it to infect a host. Here's a link to a study which investigated how one strain, M. pinnipedii, was in all likelihood transferred through the air:

http/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19017459

I wasn't able to read the entire study, as only the abstract is available free. However, if that is anything to go by, then myco has more modes of transmission than we realised. Although the strain under investigation (M. pinnipedii) isn't the type most frequently credited with causing fish TB in humans (M. marinum), the two strains do appear to be closely related.

 

[daizeUK]

Assault by firearm is disturbingly high on that list
 
I wonder what the equivalent UK stats would be.
 
But... if you only take aquaria owners and workers in the fish industry, then work out what percentage of that sample population contract fish TB, wouldn't that be more meaningful?  It seems futile to compare figures otherwise - anyone can get hit by an asteroid but not everybody has regular contact with fish (discounting food preparation).

 

[TwoTankAmin]

After a bit more research. In 1990 10.5 % of Americans kept fish. Assuming that number was unchanged as the population has grown, 1 in 740,000 becomes more like 1 in 78,100. or somewhere between being killed by a tornado and killed by lightning. I think you have a better chance of drowning in your tank.

 

[Yeved]

Drinking ok. Neti pot no.

 

[AshleyNZ]

I've hardly ever had to suck start a syphon, only when the water level is lower than the syphon. 
 
I put the syphon below the water level, raising it above the water until the water level in the syphon starts to rapidly drop, then I quickly put the syphon back in the water and tilt it upwards so there are no air bubbles. Works everytime.