# Blue stuff they soak nets in at fish store



## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

What do they soak their nets in at LFS's? I hate moving my net around from tank to tank sometimes without washing off ,then it's washing off with tap water. Does the blue stuff kill anything that could be transferred?


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## Zefrik (Oct 23, 2011)

You know what is weird. I worked at a pet store for about 8 months and we used that stuff, but I never asked what it was! I would also like to know what that stuff is too.


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## Zefrik (Oct 23, 2011)

I found these....

- http://www.amazon.com/Net-Soak-8oz-Catalog-Category/dp/B005WZWB82

- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...enance-_-JUNGLE+LABORATORIES-_-9SIA0KR0598772

- http://www.petstore.com/Jungle_Labs..._(Jungle_Laboratories)-JL08082-AQMANE-vi.html


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## florini (Jun 26, 2011)

Blue - not sure. If it was pink or purple I'd say it was potassium permanganate. Biollante over at Barr Report is an expert in PP: http://www.barrreport.com/showthrea...ected-plant-infect-the-tank?p=55964#post55964 I guess a PP dip would server OP's purpose.


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## Zefrik (Oct 23, 2011)

You could also make your own. The ingredients are benzalkonium chloride and mythelene blue.


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

hehe - a little markup on that stuff or what? Wow!


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## Zefrik (Oct 23, 2011)

m00se said:


> hehe - a little markup on that stuff or what? Wow!


Yeah, it is kind of ridiculous.


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

benzalkonium chloride:

"ADBAC (benzalkonium chloride) is highly toxic to fish (LC50 = 280 μg ai/L), very highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates (LC50 = 5.9 μg ai/L), moderately toxic to birds (LD50 = 136 mg/kg-bw), and slightly toxic to mammals (LD50 = 430 mg/kg-bw).[5] Benzalkonium chloride solutions of 10% or more are toxic to humans, causing irritation to the skin and mucosa, and death if taken internally.[6]"

per wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzalkonium_chloride

Gee, I bet that's why you can't buy any on e-bay! LOL (dangit)


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

MY LFS uses 135+ degree water and soaks for 20 minutes

so far they have no complaints


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## Zefrik (Oct 23, 2011)

m00se said:


> benzalkonium chloride:
> 
> "ADBAC (benzalkonium chloride) is highly toxic to fish (LC50 = 280 μg ai/L), very highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates (LC50 = 5.9 μg ai/L), moderately toxic to birds (LD50 = 136 mg/kg-bw), and slightly toxic to mammals (LD50 = 430 mg/kg-bw).[5] Benzalkonium chloride solutions of 10% or more are toxic to humans, causing irritation to the skin and mucosa, and death if taken internally.[6]"
> 
> ...


Wow! I wonder if that is really what is in that net soak. If it is it has to be extremely diluted. Seems a little bit dangerous!


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## Zefrik (Oct 23, 2011)

HD Blazingwolf said:


> MY LFS uses 135+ degree water and soaks for 20 minutes
> 
> so far they have no complaints


What are nets typically made of? Some of the ones that I have seem like they are like nylon or something. Would they melt in these temperatures?


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## jeremyTR (Mar 21, 2012)

this matters? hmm all i do is rinse it out in the sink lol. never any harm or foul but I always use more dechlore than i need to.

like in my 40B the dechlore i use says one capfull = 41 gallons worth but ill use a full capfull on a 50% water change. nothing minds as far as i can tell. plus i keep my nets in a plastic bag that i brought home fish in.


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## mrduna01 (Nov 27, 2011)

Zefrik said:


> What are nets typically made of? Some of the ones that I have seem like they are like nylon or something. Would they melt in these temperatures?


I've boiled my nets before for 10 minutes... No harm done.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2


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## Stringcheez (May 6, 2012)

It's methelyne blue, it helps to an extent. And it's changed every day, you put about 1 capful into a 5 gallon bucket.

Btw first post


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## jeremyTR (Mar 21, 2012)

Stringcheez said:


> It's methelyne blue, it helps to an extent. And it's changed every day, you put about 1 capful into a 5 gallon bucket.
> 
> Btw first post


first? uhh not even close man. lol


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## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

jeremyTR said:


> this matters? hmm all i do is rinse it out in the sink lol. never any harm or foul but I always use more dechlore than i need to.



lol ditto


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

Welcome to the tribe, stringcheez. Yea the methylene blue part is cheap and easy, innit.


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## jeremyTR (Mar 21, 2012)

and pointless until i see a fish/shrimp die by a net that hasn't been sitting in chemicals.


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## aznartist34 (Nov 19, 2010)

jeremyTR said:


> first? uhh not even close man. lol


He means it's his first post, sorry.


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## Quesenek (Sep 26, 2008)

Bought a really nice net that is long fin fish safe and only used it once. For moving my fish from the 55g to the 75g lmao such a waste of money.


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

Aquatic Delight said:


> lol ditto





jeremyTR said:


> and pointless until i see a fish/shrimp die by a net that hasn't been sitting in chemicals.


Spoken like a true warrior.

..until you infect tank #2 with the pathogen from tank #1 that kills both tanks...


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## Stringcheez (May 6, 2012)

Lol yeah my bad, my first post . Generally for freshwater communicable diseases a bath in a hypo saline solution I assume would kill anything. I always hated the blue stuff.


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## DerekFF (May 24, 2011)

Its meth blue or rid ich

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## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

all my tanks are already infected then....i seed every new tank with dirty water from a wc in my 29 gal


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## jcgd (Feb 18, 2004)

I rinse with water, but every tank has a set of nets. For less than $2 per net it's not worth the risk and I don't worry about a dip.

Every once and a while I do a diluted bleach dip and then a soak in diluted prime to sterilize them.

Anything you should be worried about transferring usually wont show up for a little bit. Something could take eight months to show up in your tank. Are you going to know it was the net you double dipped?


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## DerekFF (May 24, 2011)

Stringcheez said:


> Generally for freshwater communicable diseases a bath in a hypo saline solution I assume would kill anything.


Hypo saline? How would that kill anything? Do you mean hyper saline?


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Is this the same stuff they keep the bettas in?


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## Stringcheez (May 6, 2012)

Yes hyper once again my bad, I'm using tapatalk and it autocorrected. But yes something at say. 1.030 sg


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## TWA (Jan 30, 2012)

Don't know the ingredients, but it's called net safe or something similar.


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## DerekFF (May 24, 2011)

Stringcheez said:


> Yes hyper once again my bad, I'm using tapatalk and it autocorrected. But yes something at say. 1.030 sg


Dang thats like red sea salty lol. 

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## DerekFF (May 24, 2011)

xenxes said:


> Is this the same stuff they keep the bettas in?


No. Its most likely rid ich which is formalin and meth blue combo to help kill any diseases on the nets as they sit in the net bucket

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## Stringcheez (May 6, 2012)

Derek yup close red sea is 1.028 anyways it only takes like a 1/4 cup of salt to push it that high in a 5 gallon, tank safe and I doubt anything freshwater would survive long.


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

Zefrik said:


> What are nets typically made of? Some of the ones that I have seem like they are like nylon or something. Would they melt in these temperatures?


NYLON is the preffered choice

there used to be silk nets. not very popular because they fell apart but super soft


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## TWA (Jan 30, 2012)

Net soak or methylene blue are the two soaks.


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

*don't fear the benzalkonium chloride!*



m00se said:


> "ADBAC (benzalkonium chloride) is highly toxic to fish (LC50 = 280 μg ai/L), very highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates (LC50 = 5.9 μg ai/L), moderately toxic to birds (LD50 = 136 mg/kg-bw), and slightly toxic to mammals (LD50 = 430 mg/kg-bw).[5] Benzalkonium chloride solutions of 10% or more are toxic to humans, causing irritation to the skin and mucosa, and death if taken internally.[6]"
> 
> Gee, I bet that's why you can't buy any on e-bay! LOL (dangit)


It's also the stuff we spray on our kids' scraped knees (i.e., Bactine). You have to take some of the MSDS warnings with a 'grain of salt'. Speaking of, look up the MSDS for good ole NaCl if you want a laugh. "mutagenic, do not ingest, wash off skin with soap and water" etc., :hihi:. Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but I am actually using some benz alk right now on some persistent cory funk. I got a couple metae from the LFS a few months back and after a couple days I noticed one of them had what appeared to be excessive slime. It got worse over time (spread on that cat, plus a little fin edge erosion), and although it eventually spread to the other metae in the tank, it did not spread to other fish in that tank (some otos) or fish (including cory aeneus) in another tank that shares the same sump. This is a new setup, and everyone is in quarantine together. They got Maracyn I&II, salt/heat/Ich Attack, and fenbendazole (for hydra on plants, but thought I'd mention it). The metae funk has gotten progressively worse, and as I said, spread from 1 metae to the other but not to other fish in the tanks. After some research online, I learned that aquaculturists use benz alk to cut through infections with tenacious slime coat, specifically because it has that surfactant effect. "Benzalkonium chloride is used as a general antibacterial. It acts as a surfactant, removing excess mucus and slime containing parasites and bacteria from the fish." I've done 2 baths so far (60 min at 2ppm = 1.5ml Bactine in 9.5 cups water). The cats seemed to tolerate it well. I was worried because the bactine also has a topical analgesic (lidocaine), but I monitored the cories' gill vent rate and activity throughout the hour and they did not get sedated. And best of all, the slime coat was quickly and noticeably diminished. I'll post updates as I make progress. Sorry to hijack the net dip thread, but it was the only discussion about benz alk in the forum, and I thought people might like to know that it can be useful for fish.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

where can one buy Benzalkonium chloride?


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

The only place I found it was here:

http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/fluka/12060?lang=en&region=US

Needless to say, I didn't follow through on it.


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## TheDrake (Jul 18, 2012)

acitydweller said:


> where can one buy Benzalkonium chloride?


Cheap? As Bactine at any store with a half-way decent pharmacy. Pure? No idea. Maybe ask your vet.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

Thanks again folks. its been ordered


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

Which?


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