Gloves

[Pizazz]

I have been resisting using gloves, but sliced my finger yesterday. So ... any recommendations? Anything I should avoid that would be harmful to fish/invertebrates?

[Instar]

Make sure the ones you get are "powder free" for sure. Most plastic and rubber gloves have a slight coating of powder to keep them from getting sticky or make them easier to get on. If it doesn't say powder free, it probably isn't. That powder would be a contaminate in your tank. Some things may react badly to that too. You may be able to get hypo-alergenic, powder free rubber gloves at a drug store or latex gloves that are powder free, so long as you are not allergic to latex. I haven't run across any gorgonians that have a reaction to the latex gloves yet, so thats what I use.

[fishermiguel]

What is causing you to use gloves?

[fishermiguel]

Good point! :D ... not to mention if you have venomous organisms.

[Inno]

What about scuba diving gloves? ;)

[fishermiguel]

Arent those a bit thick?

[adamRS80]

i have those gloves that Joshua posted a link to. in my opinion they suck really bad. everytime i take my arms out of my tank they somehow always manage to contain in it's crevices and wrinkles alot of water and that spills all over the floor, also they're pretty big if you have small hands and it's hard to tell how hard you're squeezing something. it's almost like having really dumb clumsey robot arms. just my opinion on those gloves...other could have had a great experience with them.

[shellback]

been there done that, gives you a whole new out look on how a animal must hate you so.

[captexas]

I also have the gloves that Josh posted a link to. They are a little too thick in the hands which makes it hard to grab smaller things in the tank. I have never gotten water in them though and can't imagine how you would unless you stuck your arm in all the way up to your shoulder. Other than that they are ok. I definately would advise people to find some kind of glove to use that completely covers you hand and any part of your arm that you put in the tank. I love playing in my tank and I am sure that over time I have contaminated it. It is impossible not to with all the things your hands and arms come in contact with. Even if you wash with soap, you still can have soap residue on your skin.

[GaryP]

I sometimes use nitrile gloves when mounting frags.

Gary

[::pete::]

:-D Super Sensitive (http://shop.store.yahoo.com/floridagen/supsenglovfr.html) :-D

[wkopplin]

I have the gloves that Josh referred to as well and they are too thick. Plus mine sprung a leak between the glove and the sleeve. The gloves have been in my tank all of three times. I ended up with a handful of water inside the glove.

[PeeJ]

who else get super dry hands in the winter time? my hands crack open badly and makes cleaning the tank a pain

[GaryP]

Putting your hands in saltwater will only make that worse PeeJ. Salt pulls the moisture out of your skin.

Gary

[Instar]

I use powder free surgical gloves. To keep the water from getting logged inside the gloves, I slide a rubber band that is my wrist size over the glove to the cuff.

Why use gloves? Some predatory gorgonians will die if you touch them. Some of the slime really sticks to your skin and other specimens may react very badly to that. Gloves don't have too much carry over and are easy to wash off. There are also 2 bacterias that can grow in cooler salt water that will make you very ill. All of our reef things should be kept clear of food areas, or if you use the kitchen like I do, clean the sink and counters well to avoid contaminating food. And one big one for me is those palythoa are very poisonous to tank and to us. Bristle worms can't sting thru gloves and neither can a carpet. You don't want to get stung by a recoil of a carpet, I'll guarentee you that. They don't do much to protect from a foxface spine and really nothing to protect from a large trigger mouth, but, thats not what they are for anyway.