medical question: mycobacteria in fish tank

john chappa wrote:
"atypical mycobateria"--is (apparently) common in fish. It is a type
of bacteria that very,very rarely affects people , too.

How can I treat my home aquarium (tetras) for mycobacteria?

I don't think you can treat the aquarium. However, you can take measures
to prevent it from being transmitted to you. Usually a person will not be
in danger unless they have open wounds or are immunosurpressed. In such
cases, wearing gloves when handling fish tank water is advised. You can
get gloves that go all the way up the arm from many fish mail order
companies. It's also a good idea to wear gloves if your are prone to dry
skin and plan to be in the water for a while. If you're really worried,
just always wear gloves. If using standard medical/cleaning gloves, I
always get the powder free variety just to make sure no talc gets into the
tank.

Otherwise, just make sure to wash up after having your hands in the water.
Just 30 seconds with soap and warm water is all it takes. Also try not to
ingest any of the water. I know some still start the water change siphon
by sucking on the tube, but gravity works just as well if the water line
is brought over the aquarium edge by submerging part of the tube in the
tank to fill it with water.

I personally am supposed to use gloves by order of the doctor whenever I'm
in the tank because I have eczema. Excessive exposure to hard water (which
my rift tanks are) can make me break out in dry scaley skin or rashes. I
only wear the gloves when I plan to be in the tanks for longer than 15
minutes though. Otherwise I just make sure to wash up thoroughly
afterwards and put on a little lotion to counteract the dry skin. All the
tank related rashes I've had have turned out to be eczema or in one case,
an allergy to freshwater shrimp (knew I was allergic to the sal****er
kind, who knew it extended to amano shrimp). I do always wear gloves when
having my hands in the tank with the amano shrimp now.