How do I clean a shell from my fish tank?

Question

I put a large shell in my fish tank. It's been in there for about six months. The shell is usually a red-ish brown color but when it drys out it stays white. I tried scrubbing it with a tooth brush but it still has the white color. Any ideas on how to get the shell back to the natural color? Does this mean the shell color is fake? Any help at all!!?? I really liked this shell.

Thanks. Anna

I've read a couple of the questions. The shell color doesn't fade. It's the right color when it is wet. Everything looks normal. As soon as the shell is dry, it turns white. I'm thinking it's something from the tank. My tank gets very dirty fast. I'm working on solutions for that. I want to clean the shell and keep it out of the tank now to use for other purposes but the white film doesn't help.

Answer 1

You should not put sea shells in a fresh water tank.
sea shells are made up of mostly Calcium . when this dissolves in fresh water it will mess up your water and can kill your fish.
the reason the shell is turning white is because it is dissolving and not because the color is fake.
Best be is to take it out

Answer 2

The shell is colorful underwater but white when dry. That is how things work. What happens when you take a light blue piece of paper and put it underwater? It turns dark blue. But when you dry the paper off, it turns light blue again. It isn't anything wrong with your tank, it is just how water works. The same thing happens with rocks.

By the way, one shell is not going to change the pH of your entire tank... Put the shell in a little jar with any water you want, then it will have its pretty colors, and you can do whatever you want with it.

Nosoop4u

Answer 3

It's probably because it is a real shell that it's losing it's color. Shells are made up of calcium carbonate, and this slowly dissolves in water that's not alkaline. The outer covering of your shell had probably worn away to where you don't see the color on the outside surfaces any more.

And it's this dissolving that raises the pH and hardness of your tank water.

Answer 4

Real shells should never fade. It must be fake, as it is losing it's paint.

Real shells are bad for the tank anyway, as they raise the PH levels (that's bad).