How to Sterilize Fish Nets

Keeping fish can be a relaxing and rewarding hobby, but when your fish are sick it is anything but relaxing. One big challenge when treating sick fish is the fact that so many fish diseases are highly communicable. After using a net to remove your sick fish to a quarantine tank, you need to make sure that net has been thoroughly sterilized before using it again. Otherwise the infection could spread from your sick fish to your healthy stock.

Things You'll Need

  • Fish net
  • Bucket
  • Potassium permanganate
  • Bleach
  • Water
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Instructions

    • 1

      Boil several gallons of water--enough to completely cover your net--and pour it into a bucket. Allow the water to cool slightly and add bleach at a concentration of one part bleach for 20 parts water.

    • 2

      Dip the net in the solution of bleach and water. Make sure the entire surface of the net, including the handle, is submerged in the bleach solution.

    • 3

      Let the net sit in the bleach solution for at least a couple of hours, then remove the net and rinse it thoroughly under hot water. Continue rinsing the net until there is no smell of bleach.

    • 4

      Buy some potassium permanganate at your local hardware store or pool supply outlet. Mix the chemical with water at one part potassium permanganate to four parts water. Dip the net in the solution then rinse it thoroughly with hot water. You can keep this solution on hand to sterilize the net before each use--just make sure the container it is stored in is airtight and that it is kept tightly capped.