Advice on cleaning craft store shells

starypotter · Sep 14, 2018

Hi everyone,
I have a hermit crab looking for a new shell, none of the LFS have any cone shells so I'm getting some from Michael's craft store after work. I would imagine that they're polished or something but I don't know if there's going to be any sort of coating on them. I was thinking a good soak in vinegar to see what/if anything comes off before putting it in the tank. Give it a scrub and soak/rinse well and repeatedly is the plan.

Does anyone have any experience with craft store shells? What did you do? And would you advice any different methods?

saltyfilmfolks · Sep 14, 2018

Look for the ones that are not very shiny. I’ve had better luck at the dollar store actually.
Most shells are tumbled with a type of sand to clean them. Not all of them are coated though. You can usually see or kinda feel the difference.
Vinegar is not an all around cleaner either btw. It’s slightly acidic yes, but it’s not going to do take off a wax or poly urethane or kill germs or bacteria or remove “contaminants”. It a placebo cleaner for most reefers.

If you buy shells that have just been tumbled , a tap water rinse is fine. Bleach, a good rinse and leave in the sun if you’re really worried.

starypotter · Sep 14, 2018

saltyfilmfolks said:
Look for the ones that are not very shiny. I’ve had better luck at the dollar store actually.
Most shells are tumbled with a type of sand to clean them. Not all of them are coated though. You can usually see or kinda feel the difference.
Vinegar is not an all around cleaner either btw. It’s slightly acidic yes, but it’s not going to do take off a wax or poly urethane or kill germs or bacteria or remove “contaminants”. It a placebo cleaner for most reefers.

If you buy shells that have just been tumbled , a tap water rinse is fine. Bleach, a good rinse and leave in the sun if you’re really worried.

Thank you, that's good to know about the vinegar. I didn't even think of the dollar store! I'll keep that in mind for next time if I get another picky species. They weren't too bad they didn't seem to be coated with anything thankfully, and some were tumbled but some weren't. I stuck them in a boiling pot for several minutes actually and looked to see if anything came off them and nothing appeared, the water stayed the same as when I put them in so I was fairly confident to drop them in the tank, hopefully my hermit likes them!