How easy is it to spread disease from aquarium to aquarium

I hear that if you put anything in a aquarium that is wet especially something from another aquarium and you could be putting diseases in your aquarium. My ques is say i have my hands in an aquarium that has sick fish and then i completely dry my hands and arms then go put my hands in my other aquarium can i still transfer disease ? And can parasites and bacteria live out of the water and if so for how long?

Yes, you can still transmit diseases between tanks. The disease process is very complicated and is different for every disease. Some take exposure to very high numbers of cells/spores/etc. to cause disease and others are so contagious that a single cell/spore/etc. can wipe out an entire system. Drying your hands can decrease the risk but does not eliminate it. You will still have some organisms on your skin. The deciding factors will be what type, how many, how virulent, and how suseptible the other fish are to begin with. Also, some organisms can live for hours or days after being exposed to light and/or air and some start to die almost instantly. So, as you can see it's difficult to say how risky it is. Keep in mind that not all diseases are actual diseases. Just as in humans, if a fish is exposed to a bacteria it's never been exposed to before, that may be normal in another fish from another area, it may become ill. It's immune system does not yet have the antibodies to fight it. All that being said, I have been guilty of doing the same thing with no ill effects. Of course, if one tank has visible signs of illness that's a whole other situation. Always do whatever is possible to not cross-contaminate from a tank containing either ill or new fish and to not expose new or stressed fish to potential contaminants.

with Jeep, bacterias are very hardy when it comes to living out of the tank for a while, the best way to prevent transfering deceases from one tank to another, everytime you use your hands, pots, nets, brushes etc..., rinse them on hot water for 1-2 mins, bacterias cant hold hot water at all, there's always a small risk but i think is the best way to do it, i dont have a lot of tanks so i use 2 different nets and maintenance supplies to prevent that..

After I'm done with a qt tank I set it outside in the sun for a few days for a good disinfecting.

Jungle net dip, its what we use at my lfs.

In a pinch you can also use Quick Cure. Although it say's it's for ich, it contains formalin which is mixture of alcohol and formaldehyde and can kill most organisms at the right concentrations. Great for disinfecting even when pretty well diluted. Just be sure you rinse the net well after sanitizing, especially if you have sensitive fish or inverts. I've always used double the concentration I'd use in the given tank. That way it's effective but not likely to harm my fish should I not get quite all of it off the net.

I try to dry out my nets before using them in differing tanks, but when I don't have time I dip in hydrogen peroxide and rinse with untreated tap water.

Fern wrote:

Jungle net dip, its what we use at my lfs.

english pls lol