Sterilizing Nets

A friend of mine is having possible issues with some unknown disease, and we got to thinking that he should probably start to sterilize nets between tanks. How do y'all do that for general purpose use? There is the 10% bleach solution that he will probably use, so I am thinking that about a 15-minute bath in that solution and then move the net to tapwater to remove the bleach would work? However, I'd like to be thorough and get your feedback. I hear hatcheries may use methylene blue, but forgot what other stuff they use. Boiling water? Any other chemicals?

Sorry if this has already been discussed, did a quick search on the forum and didn't find anything. Probably my fault

thanks,
shawn

Your bleach idea would do the trick. Nets are cheap, too, so your friend could just buy a new net for the infected tank(s).

I've had a lot of problems with stuff jumping from tank to tank in the past. Last year over winter break I baby-sat a friend's tank for him, and his fish had Mycobacterium marinum (fish tuberculosis) and mine didn't. Well, lo and behold, even though I never touched his tank except to drop fish flakes into it, my fish started showing signs of tuberculosis too. I literally never, not a single time, performed a cleaning or touched any of my equipment to that tank, yet the bacteria jumped to my tank. They were sitting less than three feet from one another, though, and his tank had surface disruption with an air stone, so that might explain it. But do you want to hear the really creepy part? I slept in that room, less than five feet from both tanks. And Mycobacterium marinum is the one fish disease that people can contract; most people just don't because they have a good immune system. But I bet I was exposed to it. Creepy, no?

Anyway, long story short, there are many ways for pathogens to jump from tank to tank even if you never cross contaminate by double dipping with nets. My suggestion is to turn off any bubblers in the infected tanks to reduce splattering. Water droplets can transmit the pathogen as well as any net. But still, it's all just a matter of the immune system. It takes different pathogen "loads" to cause infection. Fish/people with stronger immune systems take a larger "load" to infect than those that possess weaker immune systems. Fish living in clean water with parameters (pH, hardness) comfortable to them are far less likely to get sick than a fish stressed out from nitrogen toxicity or uncomfortable water parameters. The best thing your friend can do is, yes, clean the nets, but also keep the water quality of the still healthy fish very, very high.

Edited by EricaWieser, 29 March 2011 - 07:53 PM.

Simple vinegar should do the job. Just pop the nets in there for a bit then rinse them off and all should be peachy. It's cheap, safe and green.

When working in a aquaculture lab, we had several nets used for rotation (each net used for one particular system), and were left in methylene blue solution anywhere between 15-45 mins. When we left, we rinsed the used nets, and set them out to dry for the next day.

Chlorine will do the same, but will eventually deteriorate the net itself and you may eventually get tears (but as mentioned, they are cheap). I also like donkeyman's vinegar idea.

Clorox/bleach doesn't kill everything, even in high concentrations.
There are -many- clorox/bleach (sodium hypochlorite) resistant strains of bacteria (E.Coli, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, etc.) that will happily wait the bleach dousing out, and continue on their merry way. But, even accidental residual amounts of bleach will kill fish and all other desirable aquarium life quite dead.
Leave the Clorox in the laundry room.

If you want to safely and very effectively sterilize aquariums and aquarium equipment, use common 3% hydrogen peroxide solution. It's extremely cheap. Maybe not generic bleach cheap, but usually only around $2.25 per quart at the grocery store.
3% H2O2 kills the stuff you want killed, and is not harmful to fish in low/residual amounts. It is also unstable in bright light and quickly breaks down into water and oxygen. That's why it's sold in dark brown opaque bottles. If you do accidentally get residual H2O2 in your tank, you have simply added a bit of dissolved oxygen.

H2O2 also does a number on algae and assorted fish parasites, but that's a different thread.

Rick

Sterilizing any thing at home is hard to do!
i would say sanitizing is a attainable goal.

Never thought about aerosol transmission of baddies, but now you mention it, it makes complete sense! I would think that bacteria could probably move around the room quite a bit by this method. Great comments, I think using a few baths of different stuff may be a good idea. Thanks!

Edited by haruspicator, 30 March 2011 - 11:53 AM.