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

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?

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.

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

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

Nancy,

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