Chemicals

Hybridfish7

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Have you tested your water?
Yes
If I did not test my water...
...I recognize that I will likely be asked to do a test, and that water tests are critical for solving freshwater health problems.
Do you do water changes?
Yes
If I do not change my water...
...I recognize that I will likely be recommended to do a water change, and water changes are critical for preventing future freshwater health problems.
Did some spray painting, got some on my hands, spent about half an hour washing my hands, turns out I didn't get all of it off. Turns out I didn't get all of the dish soap out from between my fingers either. Just little <1 mm specs of crusted paint and a bit of dish soap residue between my fingers. Emergency called for me sticking my hand in a 30 gallon. Probably wasn't the smartest idea, but will the tank be alright?
 

Rtc/tsn

Redtail Catfish
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Did some spray painting, got some on my hands, spent about half an hour washing my hands, turns out I didn't get all of it off. Turns out I didn't get all of the dish soap out from between my fingers either. Just little <1 mm specs of crusted paint and a bit of dish soap residue between my fingers. Emergency called for me sticking my hand in a 30 gallon. Probably wasn't the smartest idea, but will the tank be alright?
I’d do a half water change to be safe but you should be fine as long as it wasn’t a lot
 

Trouser Bark

Dovii
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The stuff on your hands is now in the water column and no doubt a 50% WC would be a great idea. You might also want to consider a little filter maintenance as your filter should have a greater concentration of contaminant than the water in the tank.
 
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Rtc/tsn

Redtail Catfish
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The stuff on your hands is now in the water column and no doubt a 50% WC would be a great idea. You might also want to consider a little filter maintenance as your filter should have a greater concentration of contaminant than the water in the tank.
Don’t know why but I didn’t think of the filter. If you have a bio sponge id wash it in a bucket of tank water
 

Hybridfish7

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All the filters? There are 3 sponges and an ac110 on that tank. Even from just the little bits under my fingernails and dots between my fingers? Doing the waterchange regardless though. Amount of paint I'm talking about for reference: (other hand that did not go into the tank)

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Rtc/tsn

Redtail Catfish
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All the filters? There are 3 sponges and an ac110 on that tank. Even from just the little bits under my fingernails and dots between my fingers? Doing the waterchange regardless though. Amount of paint I'm talking about for reference: (other hand that did not go into the tank)

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View attachment 1507130

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Yea if you just take a 5 gallon bucket and fill it with tank water and take the sponge from the filters dunk them give them a tiny squeeze and shake for a second and put them back, that’s what I do for filter maintenance whenever the time comes
 

Trouser Bark

Dovii
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If you're looking to minimize the effort required to get past the potential problem my thoughts would be:

- Sponges don't normally have a lot of capacity to hide or harbor chemical compounds so there may not be much in them at all... but a quick squeeze won't hurt a thing.

- Carbon or any similar compound in your AC110 would be a definite place for chem and soap. At minimum I'd give that one a rinse and fresh media.
 

Trouser Bark

Dovii
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Based on what you show on your hand I probably wouldn't be too concerned about residual paint. Soap though? I would.

Do you see any bubbles or foam at the surface? I'm guessing not as your initial post indicates that you're on top of water quality. If you have any bubble at all wherever the surface is agitated that would be a major indicator. If you don't see any bubbles anywhere it may just be that you're about to take the least risky path and it's not going to hurt a thing.
 

Hybridfish7

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If you're looking to minimize the effort required to get past the potential problem my thoughts would be:

- Sponges don't normally have a lot of capacity to hide or harbor chemical compounds so there may not be much in them at all... but a quick squeeze won't hurt a thing.

- Carbon or any similar compound in your AC110 would be a definite place for chem and soap. At minimum I'd give that one a rinse and fresh media.
Sorry if I came off as trying to find an easier way out, just giving more details to make sure the answers given were answers to the actual problem. I can huck a bag of carbon in there, but what's my window looking like on new media? I just ran out of pretty much all bio media I have, and someone threw away my box of spare AC sponges.
 

Trouser Bark

Dovii
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Just between us chickens I am inclined to think you may not have an issue. I'd yard the carbon out and replace it at minimum and not be too concerned about an extra day or two chasing down any other media you may have had in there. As long as the fish don't look like they're laboring over anything ATM and as long as you get the carbon replaced, the actual sponge or floss material is (in my mind) less likely to be harboring a toxin. I'd replace it at my earliest convenience but I wouldn't lose sleep over it; I think you'll be fine.

All of that assumes the fish aren't obviously distressed.
 
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