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Whos looking for shells and wood

cmcpart0422

cmcpart0422

Members
Went to lake Needwood yesterday for a hike with my girlfriend and found out they they have drained the lake about 8 or 9 feet. Not sure why but it looks like a construction site. Went exploring the shorelines and found tons of fun stuff. There were thousands of empty pond snail shells all over the place. I picked up a few dozen and brought them home for cleaning. There was also tons of great drift wood in all sizes that have been exposed due to the drop in water level. The wood would need a lot of cleaning and I don't know if its safe or what not but might be worth the trip for someone with a sa or ca tank that is looking for some big driftwood without paying a ton. Some of the wood was so cool i though about taking it home even though I dont use drift wood. Anyways, heres some pics. Not the prettiest but you dont what shells taking away form your fish now do ya? Oh, and for anyone interested I would try to go sooner then later Im not sure how long it will be until they fill it up again.

These are the largest and smallest I found.

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What I found in about 20 min of walking the shoreline

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Tony

Tony

Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
Awesome find, Chris!

I may head over there. What's the easiest/neatest way to make found shells not smell like death?
 
cmcpart0422

cmcpart0422

Members
Lol well this is what I have been doing. Wash them as good as you can with hose/bathtub/whatever you have. Put them in a 5 gallon bucket and boil about 4 gallons of water. Dump the boiling water in the bucket and let them sit for an hour or two. Then repeat the first two processes one more time. Set them out to dry in the sun for a day or so. Then give them the nose test. Any that smell to bad go in the trash the rest stay in the sun for a few more days with another soak in boiling water. Requires a little work but the smell is going away.
 
cmcpart0422

cmcpart0422

Members
Im tempted to use bleach but I'm not sure what it will do to the shells. I dont what it to turn them white and i dont want it to completely eat away at them either. Anyone have any idea on what bleach will do?
 
Avatar

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Plenipotentiary-at-large
First ants. Then add salt to the boil (simmer better - be patient Grasshopper).

Salt raises the boiling point (as will any dissolved substance). The issue is not killing the bacteria - that's easy - it's getting any residual 'carrion' out of the shell. One of those myriad things that the forgotten pipe cleaner might help with, especially of you snip off the back (pointy) end of the shell so everything can be pushed out (and maybe it becomes musical to boot). If you're really patient the sun will do it (and bleach them a bit), but for cleaning up dead flesh there's nothing like an ant colony. They're stirring already, like tight spaces, extremely thorough, and ravenous as always.
 
minifoot77

minifoot77

Members
Tony said:
Awesome find, Chris!

I may head over there. What's the easiest/neatest way to make found shells not smell like death?
Click to expand...

bring me a bucket and i will clean them all up and split it with you tony :) i boil bleach and bake em good thing i have an "understanding" girlfriend :)
 
I

illpoet

Members
would boiling the driftwood get rid of the pathogens? I am on the savage and casselmen river all the time and see stuff that would make great driftwood. I've been really tempted to collect some and cure it but am scared of introducing something icky to the tank. the water quality of those two rivers are supposedly some of the best in MD but i think i should have all the facts before i do it.
 
Tony

Tony

Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
minifoot77 said:
bring me a bucket and i will clean them all up and split it with you tony :) i boil bleach and bake em good thing i have an "understanding" girlfriend :)
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good deal to me. I'll see if I can get up there this weekend bro. :)
 
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Plenipotentiary-at-large
Bathtub

Hot water + soap should do it. Could use bleach if one wants to be really thorough. Also, water quality ratings have little to do with pathogens, are rather an indication of relative fecal coliform and pollutant levels. Even the cleanest streams will still have bacteria, viruses and parasites that could attack your fish. Wild water is full of wild life.

mscichlid said:
Boidling is a good way if the pieces fit in a pot. Salting or bleaching is another.
Click to expand...
 
dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
I'd think that cleaning off any dirt, etc., soaking in salt water...followed by thorough drying in the sun would kill anything possibly bad
 
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Plenipotentiary-at-large
Salt is always good - almost a silver bullet for freshwater organisms.

Easier to get rid of than soap as well.
 
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