Question - Hi,
I have a fish tank at home and I was wondering if I put a sea shel in
the tank with out washing it off with out soap would it make him die?
Because one of my Batta fish died.~
-----------------
Dear Brittney,
I've read in some aquarium manuals that sea shells shouldn't be used for decorating
freshwater aquariums because the calcium carbonate mineral that they are composed of will
be dissolved by the aquarium water. This will cause the water to become
"harder", & some freshwater fish might been sensitive to high levels of this
mineral. This is not a problem in saltwater tanks because there's already calcium
carbonate in the saltwater at fairly high levels, so the sea shells wouldn't be dissolved
as quickly, & the fish are used to that mineral anyway.
It's a little hard to believe that 1 seashell could have this toxic of an effect on your
fish, but betas might be especially sensitive to hard water.
In any case, I wouldn't recommend using sea shells in your freshwater tank anymore, but
you're probably already taking that precaution,
http/www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen01/gen01642.htm