Read this if you use a gravel cleaner....

[petplanet]

A freshwater fish wholesaler has had a case of cross infection from a fish to a human.

The disease in question is Salmonella Enterica - Serotype Paratyphi B.

Causes severe vomiting, diarrhoea and may send you to hospital. The fish show no sign of illness. It is believed that the transfer has occured when priming syphon hoses by mouth.

You may want to think twice before you suck on that hose. There are gravel cleaners available that you do not need to suck on.

[Caryl]

I knew you could get salmonella from turtles and TB from having open cuts in an infected aquarium. Every time I suck on the hose I think I shouldn't :lol:

You can actually start them without sucking. Put your thumb over the hose end then carefully submerge the wide end in the tank and tip it until the length of the hose and siphon is full of water, then remove your thumb from the hose end. The suction should start on its own.

[Ira]

I'm still going to suck on mine. I think the risk of getting a mouthful of tankwater is much more to worry about than getting salmonella.

[fins]

When i had turtles when you got a mouth full of water it was more than just water.

[doodle]

You can actually start them without sucking. Put your thumb over the hose end then carefully submerge the wide end in the tank and tip it until the length of the hose and siphon is full of water, then remove your thumb from the hose end. The suction should start on its own.

i do this no offense to my fish, but therees no way their water is going in my mouth!!

[Wok]

I ususally have a bow in the hose after it comes out of the tank and when the water hits the bow I then pour it into the buckets. works every time and you don't get any water in the mouth.

[Matthew]

sorry to be a cynic, but could this be an attempt to sell further products. Also one case out of how many, and is this salmonella only contracted from fish or could it have come from else where.

By the way I have one of those gravel cleaners yet still suck on the end of the tubing. I have drunk more than my fair share of tank water to no ill effects (as of yet).

[Interfecus]

Salmonella is the great generalist of the diseases. Every time you pat a dog, stroke a cat, go near a bird cage, stick your hand in an aquarium or step in a puddle or mud you risk contracting it. It can affect most of the animals we deal with every day.

Perhaps you should think twice before breathing.

Seriously, one case is no cause for worry. How many people die while crossing roads each year? Do you still do it?

By the way, salmonella is treatable. You have to weigh the effect against the odds. For the sake of the extra convenience, I'll take the one in a million chance and keep sucking on the end of the siphon. If you're careful you should practically never get a mouthful anyway.

[TM]

sorry to be a cynic, but could this be an attempt to sell further products. Also one case out of how many, and is this salmonella only contracted from fish or could it have come from else where

The person involved got really really sick. There is no way this is a attempt to sell more gravel cleaners, they don't even sell them.

[TeeCee]

Caryl's suggested method works well enough for me (I don't like the taste of fishwater to be honest). In smaller tanks though where it's a bit too fiddly to get the whole tube submerged, an easy enough alternative, with a bit of pre-preparation, is to get the lid off the tank, place bucket nearby - walk to nearest tap, fill hose and block both ends with thumbs...walk back to tank and insert one end of hose in tank, other end in bucket - remove thumbs (figuratively speaking that is) - hey presto - flowing water with fresh breath