Seashells In My Goldfish Tank

L u · Joined: 17 Feb 2008 Posts: 49

I have a beautiful, big cameo conch shell in the tank, and a few smaller
ones. Will my goldfish be okay with ocean shells?

LuAnn

Archived from group: rec>aquaria>freshwater>goldfish

Rain Fan Dominical, CR · Joined: 17 Feb 2008 Posts: 8

On Feb 17, 12:26 pm, Romanta...@webtv.net (L u) wrote:
> I have a beautiful, big cameo conch shell in the tank, and a few smaller
> ones. Will my goldfish be okay with ocean shells?
>
> LuAnn

It makes no difference tol them..........although unless periodically
cleaned the shells can become a source of holding bad nasty pathogens
since they are essentially dead spots filled with water and detrius.
It happens in saltwater tanks that empty shells harbor high nitrate
problems and its certain possible in a small freshwater tank as well

L u · Joined: 17 Feb 2008 Posts: 49

I'll clean the shells along with everything else. Thank You.

Lu

L u · Joined: 17 Feb 2008 Posts: 49

I was told too many shells would cause the ph level to go through the
roof.

Lu

Tynk · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 200

On Feb 18, 12:10ï¿½am, Romanta...@webtv.net (L u) wrote:
> I was told too many shells would cause the ph level to go through the
> roof.
>
> Lu

From what i remember, shells from marine waters used in freshwater
tanks are usually a big no no.

Bill Stock · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 217

"L u" wrote in message @storefull-3214.bay.webtv.net...
>I was told too many shells would cause the ph level to go through the
> roof.
>
> Lu

Shells can also be a good thing, as long as they're free of contaminants.
They act to buffer (add KH) the water, which keeps the PH from crashing as
your water gets dirtier with age. I keep Aragonite (crushed coral) in my
Goldfish filters to keep the PH up. With weekly water changes the PH stays
somewhere around 7.6. It's unlikely that your shell would have the same
surface area as crushed corals, so it would have much less impact on the PH.
I have quite a bit of Limestone in the pond, which keeps the PH around 8.6
and the fish don't seem to mind.

L u · Joined: 17 Feb 2008 Posts: 49

Thanks Bill

dr-solo · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 194

what Bill says... but I will tell you that IF the pH of your water out of the tap is
below pH 7.0 or so that conch shell will dissolve rather rapidly. Ingrid

On Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:12:29 -0500, "Bill Stock" wrote:
>Shells can also be a good thing, as long as they're free of contaminants.
>They act to buffer (add KH) the water, which keeps the PH from crashing as
>your water gets dirtier with age. I keep Aragonite (crushed coral) in my
>Goldfish filters to keep the PH up. With weekly water changes the PH stays
>somewhere around 7.6. It's unlikely that your shell would have the same
>surface area as crushed corals, so it would have much less impact on the PH.
>I have quite a bit of Limestone in the pond, which keeps the PH around 8.6
>and the fish don't seem to mind.
>
>