March 19, 2009
is it safe to put shells taken from the ocean into a freshwater fish tank?
questionmark asked:
i’ve got some shells from when i went to Florida and i was thinking of placing some in my tank which houses one betta fish. i’m worried about whether it will affect the water chemistry (or enough to worry) and cause harm to my betta. (also, as future reference for goldfish tank) since bettas need freshwater and the oceans are obviously salt water….but if i rinsed the shells thoroughly it should be fine right?…or would it affect pH? INCLUDE YOUR CREDENTIALS, please! thanks!
i’ve got some shells from when i went to Florida and i was thinking of placing some in my tank which houses one betta fish. i’m worried about whether it will affect the water chemistry (or enough to worry) and cause harm to my betta. (also, as future reference for goldfish tank) since bettas need freshwater and the oceans are obviously salt water….but if i rinsed the shells thoroughly it should be fine right?…or would it affect pH? INCLUDE YOUR CREDENTIALS, please! thanks!
Filed under Fish by admin
Comments on is it safe to put shells taken from the ocean into a freshwater fish tank? »
I have spent many years messing with fish tanks and also surfing the forums….
I would say no, the shells would leach calcium and salt into the tank. It would affect your ph and general water hardness.
My credentials if from experience. It depends on what kind of shells you are talking about. If they are flat shells with no sneaky holes or curves that can hide bacteria, then with thorough cleansing and soaking of the shells, no harm can be done. But if it’s a something like a conch shell where it spirals, bacteria can hide and grow in there, and since it’s impossible to thoroughly clean it, it will change your water for the worse.
(my mother put in conch shells in my fish tank and a day later, the fish tank smelled really bad and water clouded up. it turned out that there was still a part of the animal in the shell where it spiraled)
Sorry, I don’t know that much about it. But when in doubt, I would boil them and then soak them in that solution , you can get it where you purchased your fish.
for all of my found fish tank decor i boil it to kill any bacteria that could be hiding in any little crevices. i have used seashells in my tank from the ocean and the tank is doing just fine.
i wouldn’t because water from the beach has salt in it so the shell might have salt contents in them and this will kill freshwater fish, but it can work for brackish water fish though
Shells wont affect the water ph level. They are just the exoskeleton of mollucs and in fresh water we can found skeleton of fresh water animal. Bones of all animals are more or less compositionally simmilar, so you need not worry.
my credential is from many years of dealing with fish tank,
do not put anything from saltwater into freshwater, even you have rinsed it but if you are talking about one or two shell or a handful … maybe you can boiled and dried it under the sun, this too is depend on your tank size.
maybe you could do search on google or yahoo on chemical in fish tank
or look at this website.
boil them in hot water for 20min
Not so safe.
As shell are made from calcium calcerous and this may make your tank water condition to became not suitable for your fish.
As the pH will change slightly.
Hope my answer may help to solve your curiosity.