Human exposure to fish treatment safety

[FirstClassFish]

I’ve been researching what medicines to have on hand for treating fish. 

I never thought of this before and I’m surprised I and others haven’t brought it up more often. 

It struck me as a concern a couple times in my research recently. Once when they spoke of anti-parasite medicines being used by rubbing on the livestock’s ears, so obviously absorbed through the skin. The other time when enrofloxcin was mentioned as one of the most advanced antibiotics that we have for fish treatment, but one of the reasons it didn’t pass human trials was that it causes hallucinations!

Another cautious moment for me was when I saw Cipro is used for ornamental fish. I have bad reactions to this medicine. 

So, in hindsight this all seems that it should have been a concern all along that I’d need to learn more about. Surprised I’ve never seen it discussed.  

So clearly some anti-parasites can be absorbed through the skin and we should probably use gloves as a precaution there?

What about antibiotics and others?

Is there a reason there’s no concern here? Or is there concern and people simply use proper gloves and eye protection and I’ve just not heard this before. 

Thanks!

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/20/2022 at 10:52 AM, FirstClassFish said:

I’ve been researching what medicines to have on hand for treating fish. 

I never thought of this before and I’m surprised I and others haven’t brought it up more often. 

It struck me as a concern a couple times in my research recently. Once when they spoke of anti-parasite medicines being used by rubbing on the livestock’s ears, so obviously absorbed through the skin. The other time when enrofloxcin was mentioned as one of the most advanced antibiotics that we have for fish treatment, but one of the reasons it didn’t pass human trials was that it causes hallucinations!

Another cautious moment for me was when I saw Cipro is used for ornamental fish. I have bad reactions to this medicine. 

So, in hindsight this all seems that it should have been a concern all along that I’d need to learn more about. Surprised I’ve never seen it discussed.  

So clearly some anti-parasites can be absorbed through the skin and we should probably use gloves as a precaution there?

What about antibiotics and others?

Is there a reason there’s no concern here? Or is there concern and people simply use proper gloves and eye protection and I’ve just not heard this before. 

Thanks!

You just need to think about the practicality of it all. If you see a piece of algae floating around or a piece of the dreaded DUCKWEED, you’re not going to take 5 min to put on gloves that go up til your shoulders?

I’ve never put gloves or stuff on and I can’t say I’ve experienced any adverse effects from not doing so. Have you?

[FirstClassFish]

On 10/20/2022 at 5:30 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

You just need to think about the practicality of it all. If you see a piece of algae floating around or a piece of the dreaded DUCKWEED, you’re not going to take 5 min to put on gloves that go up til your shoulders?

I’ve never put gloves or stuff on and I can’t say I’ve experienced any adverse effects from not doing so. Have you?

I can’t say I follow your line of thinking. Algae and duckweed are not harmful to humans, at least not easily so. Antibiotics and other medications absorbed through the skin on the other hand? Two completely different things. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/20/2022 at 11:47 AM, FirstClassFish said:

Antibiotics and other medications absorbed through the skin o

I agree with you there. I can’t expect it’s very sanitary to dunk your hand with an open wound into Ich-X!

[Chris]

It takes time to absorb something through the skin. Maybe not long - but I'm not sitting with my hands in medicated water for longer than a few minutes at a time, if that. I'd imagine that the amount of medications I've absorbed over the years is tiny, if any. Also keep in mind that the medications are dissolved into a relatively large amount of water, so the concentration we're exposed to is relatively low when compared to a topical cream or ointment.

That said, if you know you're sensitive to a medication, I don't blame you for avoiding using it in your aquarium. Or, if you do use it, using the proper PPE isn't a bad idea.

With all the things we're exposed to in our daily lives (chemicals, medications, air pollutants, preservatives in our food, etc.) I truly think that fish tank medications should be one of the last health worry on 99.9% of people's minds. If someone is particularly worried about it, or has a known issue with medications, it's easy enough to use PPE or have someone else dose the aquarium. 

Edited October 20, 2022 by Chris

[nabokovfan87]

It's definitely a concern.  Not just the meds, but the diseases themselves.  Some do affect humans and it's something that we as hobbyists need to educate one another on what those are.  There might be some diseases (especially parasites) where you really should be wearing gloves and should be taking precautions.  Bacterial diseases and other things, there are scenarios where you do need to protect yourself.

[Colu]

If am using medication i take necessary precautions antibiotic medications and antiparasitic are are fine powder so I wear a mask and gloves to avoid inhaling  any of powder or getting any on my skin a lot of medication such as Malachite green active ingredient in ick x  is carcinogenic so I would always wear gloves when handling it to limit the risk it more about prolonged exposure with a lot of these medication as it build's up in your body over time with frequent exposure @FirstClassFish

Edited October 22, 2022 by Colu

[FirstClassFish]

On 10/21/2022 at 5:00 PM, Colu said:

If am using medication i take necessary precautions antibiotic medications and antiparasitic are are fine powder so wear a mask and gloves to avoid inhaling  any of powder or getting any on my skin a lot of medication such as Malachite green active ingredient in ick x  is carcinogenic so I would always wear gloves when handling it to limit the risk it more about prolonged exposure with a lot of these medication as it build's up over the with frequent use @FirstClassFish

Yep, formaldehyde is nasty stuff and not much talk about it. Nutrafurazone is also carcinogenic. 
 

I don’t react well to the antibiotic Cipro and that and related medicines are used commonly. The one I mentioned in the OP causes hallucinations in humans and there are cautions for it’s use in dogs and cats. 
 

Since we know some of the anti-parasitic drugs absorb through the skin, I wondered about the antibiotics. 
 

I imagine we won’t get definitive answers and the answer is just to wear PPE when working in the tanks and as mentioned also when dosing, etc….as they are often fine powders.

I will unfortunately have to stay away from two of the best antibiotics I mentioned out of an abundance of caution. Neither of those are something I want to deal with potential symptoms from. The whole class of drugs actually. Read up on them….I’ll only take them if I have no other choice, which for a few things, unfortunately could be the case, especially with the pandemic.