🧹 Cleaning and Maintenance¶

Overall a clean lab means healthy and happy fish! While maintaining a clean lab it is important to avoid cross-contamination. To ensure this there are a couple of things to pay attention to:

• We use Virkon Aquatic in the Animal Facilities to clean and desinfect our equipment and surfaces. While this product is designed to be used with aquatic animals, the animals should not come in direct contact with it. Therefore, desinfected equipment should be rinsed thoroughly with tap water before use! A Virkon solution is kept in an orange, 5 gallon bucket near the door, as net desinfectant and for general use.
• Items (e.g. buckets, lids, nets, probes) should be cleaned after placing them on the floor and thoroughly rinsed when transferring them between tanks.
• Surfaces, including the floor, should be free of animal waste and food, and should be wiped clean frequently, while avoiding drips to contaminate the holding tanks.
• Standing water should be avoided by all means if it does not contain desinfectant! All surfaces and containers that do not contain desinfectant or fish should be rinsed and positioned to easily air dry in a well ventilated location.