Are Shells you buy safe?

[corw314]

Lil P has been living on and off in a small conch shell. When I was in the Keys, I picked up a quite large one that I think he would love. What do I need to do to make sure this is safe for the tank? I thought about boiling it in water for 20 mins.

Carol

 

[joel_ang]

Yea, boiling it should work, but could it be that there were heavy metals in the water from which it was collected. Did you just go to the keys?

 

[joel_ang]

Also make sure that there's no varnish on the shell If you bought it from a souveneir shop. Don't know what that could do but its good to be safe.

 

[neptune]

Soak it in high intesisty salt water for 24 hours. Will nuke just about everything!

 

[Nancy]

My mom lived on Sanibel Island (noted for its shells) and became an avid shell collector. The method used there was to soak the shells in bleach solution to clean them. I would suppose that a good soaking and boiling water would get rid of any traces of bleach, if that was used.

Nancy

 

[neptune]

Nancy,

Did they put those shells in tanks or just for display?