Fish and Dish Washers

[goldenpuon]

Whenever I do a water change, clean a tank, etc. I put the containers I use in the dishwasher. It has never been a problem for the fish in the 5+ years I've now kept them. But what I am more concerned about is my mom and I. Our dishwsher broke a while ago and we bought a low priced one that turned out to not work well. Often, after the dishs have been washed I see hardened food on them and have to put them in the sink to be rewashed later (we do scrub and soak our dishes as necessary before putting them in). But whenever I cull a fish or there is fish waster in a container, after I dump it, it goes straight into the dishwasher or sink with my family's dishes. Especially since the dishwasher doesn't seem to wash well, I am wondering if this is safe to do for me and my mom since we eat from the dishes that go in the dishwasher with the fish's containers. We rarely get food poisoning in my family but I just want to be sure.

Thanks!

Renee

[babygeige]

Everything I ever read says to not use dish detergent on things involving your fish. I always just rinse all of my fish related things in very hot water, then either wipe them off with a paper towel or allow them to air dry.

Even though you haven't had any problems with sickness yet, it could just be a matter of time, especially if your new dishwasher doesn't seem to work as well. If the water in your dishwasher is hot enough, it may be enough to kill any bacteria, but I'm not sure I would take the chance, personally.

Those are just my 2 cents.

[murdock6701]

good point Steph, hot water is the key! dishwahers are not set up like shower heads to conserve hot water, they must meet specific requirements - some even come w/ heaters to ensure proper sterilty temps in case your water heater is set to low.....detergents are the deterent! I have never used soap of any kind and never will - must say dishwashers would come in handy for sterilizing filtration systems such as hobs....

[bikeguy33]

i disagree.....even the cheap dishwashers get hot enough....PLUS the drying cycle kills stuff too. our dishwasher is 20 years old and we have had no problems ever....

[murdock6701]

so Bill, you're saying you use your dishwasher to wash out your fish equipment? nets, filters and the like? w/ soap?

[brenda]

My opinion would be it is fine to use the dishwasher, just don't use soap. The temperature from the water should be plenty to clean whatever it is you are trying to clean.

[kagome]

Renee,

I think that the bigger concern may be about what you put water in to put BACK into your tanks. This is the container that I would only rinse with hot water and not put into the dishwasher with soap. I have a bucket that is only used for putting water back in the tanks and I just rinse it with really hot water.

However, containers that have only waste water put into them, if you are truly concerned, you could use a mild bleach solution to rinse them before putting them in the dishwasher. I have a little spray bottle that I keep a mild bleach solution in on the side of the sink and anything questionable I spray with bleach and let sit a few minutes. For fish waste containers I would just spray those lightly on the inside and stick them in the dishwasher, then there's no way you've got to worry about germs. I would think that the dishwasher would get hot enough to kill anything harmful, but that depends on how well the heating element works. Does the dishwasher have a "sanitize" cycle? If it does I would use that when running fish stuff and then you'd be able to skip bleaching and worrying, those cycles are really hot.

[Suzie Q (Lori)]

I to use the dishwasher but when I put the fish stuff in there...that is all that is in there. I do not put my dishes in there to (I'm weird...I wash my dishes in soap and water before I put them in the dishwasher). I also wipe the fish containers out with a sponge that only gets used for the fish stuff before they go into the dishwasher. Our hot water gets REALLY hot so I don't allow the plastic fish stuff (containers and such) to go thru the drying cycle..I'm afraid they would melt.

I do not use soap when washing the fish stuff in the dishwasher.

Lori

[goldenpuon]

Thanks for the advice. My dishwhasher does have a very hot dry cycle. I'm glad my mom and I will be fine.

For the fish, though the containers do go in with soap, I'm pretty sure my mom doesn't use much. And with moldy stuff that keeps on appearing in my betta containers, I need a fast, easy way to sterilize things without it spreading to the other tanks. I have tried everthing in the past and the only two things that seems to kill the stuff is bleach and vinegar, not medication. And for some reason, it only seems to grow wherever I put bettas, even if I bleach and eliminate the stuff and put the betta back in (my thoughts are that the bettas may be somehow carrying it though it doesn't ever grow on them, just in whatever I put them in.) . Never have I had it in my guppy or goldfish tanks unless there were many dead fish (which happened with the first bunch of guppy fry I ever had) For my bettas, I control it by doing extra cleanings, about a 75% water change per week plus I scrub the sides of the 1 gallon containers they live in.

Unfortunately, do to major time constraints, I will be continuing to put containers in the dish washer, but for the fish's sake I will ask my mom to use less soap (she will probably say yes) and rinse out the containers before I use them. I know it's not much if there is soap residue but it is all I can do in the mean time with all the other work with my fish.

Thanks!

Renee