Washing Hands before putting them in an Aquarium

[Jack]

I have heard that you need to wash off your hands before putting them in the tank. I was wondering if this is true and if so what kind of soap I should use?

[ShySnail]

I'm really curious to see what everyone's answers will be. I typically don't wash my hands prior to going into the tank unless I've just handled something dirty - in which case I'd wash my hands regardless of the aquarium! 🙂 I just use my regular hand soap.

[Streetwise]

I would be wary of lotion, sunscreen, and perfume/cologne on anything going in a tank.

[MickS77]

I only worry about if I've had any chemicals on my hands earlier in the day, like car wash products, paint thinners, gasoline, etc. If I do I'll scrub them good with Fast Orange hand cleaner and rinse well. Otherwise I don't think about it. 

[Ken Burke]

Interesting question.  If you don’t wash, anything on your hands goes into the tank.  If you wash, you risk soap tagging along.  If you just rinse, .....

 

since I don’t use lotion or sunscreen typically, I just dive right in.

[Daniel]

I don't wash, but I do think about what could be on there nasty and if I can't think of anything the hands go right in the tank without washing.

[Skroob]

Wash your hands before and after. You don't know what oils or such you may have picked up about the house. 

Then wash after you are done because you don't know what you could have picked up in your tank.

But honestly...its just good hygene. Even more so in these times. 

[RedD]

I scrub mine before and rinse with hot water for a couple of minutes. I work with all kinds of chemicals during my work day -so far (knock on wood) it's worked fine. The only time I got in trouble was when I left my Python outside by the door and the pest guy sprayed the foundation for ants....

 

[Alison]

I don't usually wash wash with soap but I will give my hands a good rinse in clean water. I handle a lot of plants and fertilizers and things around the house so I went to make sure I rinse of the resdue of those things before sticking my hands in the tank.

[NordernAquariums]

I thought fish keepers were required to use the soap with the fish on the label?

[Tre]

I'm allergic to the surfactant in most soaps and have to use plain old castille soap.  I usually rinse my hands well before and scrub with soap after.... I'll have to get a fish sticker for my soap...  anti-bacterial soaps are terrible anyway.

[ange]

I get nasty hands from my job so I always wash with Dawn and rinse thoroughly for my smaller tanks. It's less important to me to do that for the larger ones unless I've been handling something that I know would be harmful (hand sanitizer, lotion, strong cleaners, car stuff, etc)

[Travis]

I always at least rinse before and after.

[Cory]

I essentially never wash my hands before going into a tank. Short of an activity like painting, oil change etc where I know contaminants are on my hands.

[Preston John]

I just only wash them if I’ve been in my QT / med bay tanks, my hydra or planarian tanks, or working with solvents and paints.