A topic ive been sitting for a long time has been hand hygien, and the reason for holding back on writeing this thread is because there isnt much in the way of a solid practice with set guidelines as to what should and shouldnt be used.
Now when most people think of hand hygiene they think about protecting them selves from germs, but what I want us to think about is protecting are tanks eco system. Thinking in the larger picture wether you have a 1 gallon pico tank or a 1000 gallon home aquarium the eco system is fragile and micro compared to the worlds biomes. A small drop of poison easily diluted in the ocean could whipe out a whole tank. That is why the process of keeping a near sterile transfer in and out of our tanks is important.
Think of the surgeon who scrubs in before he places his hands into a patient to protect the patient from any foreign invaders and,then again,after the surgeon is finished he scrubs out so he doesnt take anything with him from the patient and get sick him self. This process relates to us and our tanks. We don't,want to introduce germs, chemicals or other contaminents into our tanks nor do we want to take any of the nasty parasitss out with us and cause health issues to our selves or our family's.
Our hands contain the essence of the countless things we touch threw out the day, to put it plainly for every 5 things we can remember touching we forgot about 20 diffrent touchs.
We as concious reef keepers are cautious not expose are reefs to chemicals and pollutants, but we seldom realise that the natural oils found on are skin are harmful to the eco systems in,the tanks we keep.
So what should we be doing? And,how can we do it better?
To start develop good hand hygiene, I work in health care and we are constantly working on improving hand hygiene practice. Currently we soap in and,soap out in other words wash are hands befor touching patients and wash are hands after.
We should start by washing are hands prior to touching anything thats gonna come into contact with the water in our tanks. But there should be a few rules to lay down.
1. Wash from the top down. In,other words if your going to be elbow deep in your tank, wash starting from your elbow down to the tips of your finger tips. All skin going,into the tank should be cleaned.
2. Use a anti bacterial bio safe soap, nothing with fancy coloring, perfumes, lotions or oils. The soap you use should clean and be rinsed off, nothing from the soap should remain behind after its rinsed.
3. Hot water works better then cold. Obviously not burn,your skin hot.
4. Dry with a clean cloth or paper towel. I prefer disposable paper wash cloth, its clean and contains no additives.
5. Wash for atleast 1.5 mins
6. After completeing a wash preform the tank related task first.. The least amount of things touched from the finish of the wash to the start of the task the better.
Finally when your done with the task wash your hands again. There are some water Bourne nasties that you dont want finding there way into your bodie.
And a good rule to add is try not to work with open wounds, keep them clean and covered if possible.
This is just a basic talk I'd l ike to expand this further so I would love to hear back about things like what soap you use and what kind of hand washing practices you employee at home.
Now when most people think of hand hygiene they think about protecting them selves from germs, but what I want us to think about is protecting are tanks eco system. Thinking in the larger picture wether you have a 1 gallon pico tank or a 1000 gallon home aquarium the eco system is fragile and micro compared to the worlds biomes. A small drop of poison easily diluted in the ocean could whipe out a whole tank. That is why the process of keeping a near sterile transfer in and out of our tanks is important.
Think of the surgeon who scrubs in before he places his hands into a patient to protect the patient from any foreign invaders and,then again,after the surgeon is finished he scrubs out so he doesnt take anything with him from the patient and get sick him self. This process relates to us and our tanks. We don't,want to introduce germs, chemicals or other contaminents into our tanks nor do we want to take any of the nasty parasitss out with us and cause health issues to our selves or our family's.
Our hands contain the essence of the countless things we touch threw out the day, to put it plainly for every 5 things we can remember touching we forgot about 20 diffrent touchs.
We as concious reef keepers are cautious not expose are reefs to chemicals and pollutants, but we seldom realise that the natural oils found on are skin are harmful to the eco systems in,the tanks we keep.
So what should we be doing? And,how can we do it better?
To start develop good hand hygiene, I work in health care and we are constantly working on improving hand hygiene practice. Currently we soap in and,soap out in other words wash are hands befor touching patients and wash are hands after.
We should start by washing are hands prior to touching anything thats gonna come into contact with the water in our tanks. But there should be a few rules to lay down.
1. Wash from the top down. In,other words if your going to be elbow deep in your tank, wash starting from your elbow down to the tips of your finger tips. All skin going,into the tank should be cleaned.
2. Use a anti bacterial bio safe soap, nothing with fancy coloring, perfumes, lotions or oils. The soap you use should clean and be rinsed off, nothing from the soap should remain behind after its rinsed.
3. Hot water works better then cold. Obviously not burn,your skin hot.
4. Dry with a clean cloth or paper towel. I prefer disposable paper wash cloth, its clean and contains no additives.
5. Wash for atleast 1.5 mins
6. After completeing a wash preform the tank related task first.. The least amount of things touched from the finish of the wash to the start of the task the better.
Finally when your done with the task wash your hands again. There are some water Bourne nasties that you dont want finding there way into your bodie.
And a good rule to add is try not to work with open wounds, keep them clean and covered if possible.
This is just a basic talk I'd l ike to expand this further so I would love to hear back about things like what soap you use and what kind of hand washing practices you employee at home.
