How safe are you really?

[Gumbies R Us]

Well gang, not electrical, but I just got back from the Urgent Care

This past Monday I was cleaning up my tank that has a nasty (but declining!) Vermitid snail outbreak. I was handling some rock, and I felt one of the little Vermitid "snouts" scratch the pad of my thumb. I looked quickly, and you couldn't even see a scratch, and there was no blood. I thought, no blood, I'm fine, and I went back to cleaning my tank.

By Tuesday my thumb was swelling and very painful, yesterday even worse, and today no better. You can now clearly see the puncture spot, which is turning all blue and funky, so my wife finally convinced me to go get an antibiotic. We are leaving for a vacation tomorrow, and she was concerned that if it gets worse, our vacation might suffer

Is this going to make me use gloves the next time I'm cleaning my tank?? Probably not

Stay safe everyone!

Well, that just unlocked a new thing for me to be cautious about

 

[Acro76 Verified Sponsor]

I must lead a charmed life. I've been in the aquatics business over 30 years and I've never had a serious shock from electricity and water. Just a few minor ones that are enough to tell you some voltage is leaking! I have seen multiple tank failures from GFCI fails. A lot of people don't realize that a GFCI might last 10-15 years or it might only last 3-5 depending on the environment it's in.

Most serious shock I've ever received was when I was taking apart a metal halide ballast to see what was wrong with it, and I discharged the capacitor through myself! That one hurt!!

I've had countless bacterial infections on my hands, almost all of them minor. Soaking small cuts in warm epsom salts really seems to help. Only one incident required antibiotics, the tank I was working on was overrun by "texas trash" palythoa.

Multiple times with palytoxin poisoning.

Multiple lionfish stings.

Countless coral stings.

Bit by a large mappa pufferfish.

Bit by a large moray eel.

Not too bad really...

 

[Fish Fan]

Well, that just unlocked a new thing for me to be cautious about

Sorry buddy!!

 

[landlubber]

I do the bare minimum if i'm honest.
For personal and tank health they include: cleaning my hands before going into the tank, wash them after, no aerosols around the tank, GFCI outlets and I don't keep any palythoa or poisonous fish.

 

[SantaMonica Verified Sponsor]

A safety trick I learn while in high school doing a TV repair internship... only stick one hand in the water (TV), and keep the other hand in your pocket. This prevents current flowing from one hand to the other, through the heart.

 

[Tahoe61]

Palytoxin twice, I started taking it serious.
Multiple skin infections.

Bacterial infections need to be addressed by a health-care professional. I have witnessed what could of turned out badly for a few hobbyist that I know.
I just finished a course of oral antibiotics for a mild infection, I also kept my hands out of my tank.
Vibro is a nasty bacteria and not uncommon in home aquariums.

 

[Fish Fan]

Vibro is a nasty bacteria and not uncommon in home aquariums.

I would put money on what got me is some species of Vibrio, but the crack health care pros at the Urgent Care today had no idea what I was talking about

 

[Tahoe61]

I would put money on what got me is some species of Vibrio, but the crack health care pros at the Urgent Care today had no idea what I was talking about

Yup.

As a know it all retired RN, I always encourage others to consult with an infectious disease MD.
Increasing redness, pain, discharge/drainage and swelling are all signs and symptoms infection. Next comes fever, you don't want it to get to that point.
If the MD on call is dismissive ask for a second opinion.

Remember most medical personal have no personal or close experience with the hobby. Most have never seen or heard of palytoxin poisoning.

 

[Fish Fan]

Yup.

As a know it all retired RN, I always encourage others to consult with an infectious disease MD.
Increasing redness, pain, discharge/drainage and swelling are all signs and symptoms infection. Next comes fever, you don't want it to get to that point.
If the MD on call is dismissive ask for a second opinion.

Remember most medical personal have no personal or close experience with the hobby. Most have never seen or heard of palytoxin poisoning.

Agreed 100%, I didn't really expect the young LPN's to know what I meant by Vibrio. I *think* the PA had a clue, I asked and she said that cephalexin would work. I guess we'll know in a few days to a week or so if I still have both my thumbs

 

[Mebbid]

I design process systems in food and beverage. Complacency in electrical safety is by far the biggest contributor to people being seriously injured.

You aren't wrong, a friend of mine got electrocuted using a stick blender while making ranch. An extension cord flopped into the bowl, apparently ranch is a really good conductor of electricity.

 

[vlangel]

I ride a motorcycle so that tells you a lot about me! ( I do wear a helmet with a red Mohawk so that I can be seen).
My aquarium is GFCI protected but I never wear gloves or other protective wear. I was an aquarium tech who took care of other folks tanks and although I took care to keep my hands from getting cuts on them, I never had any problems in the 5-6 years that I did that job. There are dangers but compared to other things in life (driving one's car for example) its fairly low, especially if you are GFCI protected.

 

[RobynR]

I design process systems in food and beverage. Complacency in electrical safety is by far the biggest contributor to people being seriously injured.

Oh I agree with that assessment! My comment was that I think people worry less about it than they do the other. Which they should not.

Agreed. One thing I learned when I got my backups is that they are not GFCI protected downstream of the backup, so I installed GFCI after my backups for both my display and quarantine tanks.

 

[AlyciaMarie Verified Admin]

I've never been harmed by my aquarium (that I'm aware of), but I'm a pretty cautious person by nature. I don't like to give my mind the oppertunity to imagine the worst-case scenario, even if it is rare, so I try to put into practice all the safety things. LOL

 

[mariano]

If its my time.. is my time. I had a good run.

 

[fish_collector]

Agreed 100%, I didn't really expect the young LPN's to know what I meant by Vibrio. I *think* the PA had a clue, I asked and she said that cephalexin would work. I guess we'll know in a few days to a week or so if I still have both my thumbs

Everyone has a different response to certain antibiotics...I took cephalexin about 6 years ago, I dont even remember what for, and within a week I had a full blown case of C diff. Turns out cephalexin works so well it kills your entire gut biome leaving C diff. to run the show. Luckily vanco will kill C diff. Google it, it's horrible.

 

[fish_collector]

There are no precautions I take when working with my tanks. Bare hands, bare feet, salt water splashed onto my face, drinking water from the garden hose, running with scissors, you name it I do it. There are plenty of things to be cautious about in life but my fish tanks are not one of them

 

[Paul B]

I'm not safe at all

 

[Minifoot77]

I'm not safe at all

Friends don't let friends buy goldfish

 

[AlyciaMarie Verified Admin]

I'm not safe at all