Empty shells smell very, very bad.

[ultimatedc]

I left some empty shells in my tank for my blue hermit crabs, it's a 10g, noticed a funky smell earlier.

Picked out a shell cause I seen some black stuff on it, a snail was grazing it, and it smelt AWFUL. Picked out a few empty ones and they too smell disgusting.

WTH ?:idea::idea::idea:

[Lynnmw1208]

maybe there were still dead hermits inside. I got some empty shells from my LFS for my hermits and a dead one fell out of one. Could be the reason for the smell.

[chuckdallas]

It may smell bad to us, but it may be EXACTLY what the other snails, crabs and fish. I'm no marine biologist, but I think the stinky smell is what attracts those marine animals to clean that part of your tank. It's just not normal for us.

[MrGoodbar]

I agree I have had some smelly ones before but the hermits cleaned them out and used them. If you are unsure about it causing a prob with your tank you can just take them out and my lfs sells empty shells for 10c a piece.

[jdyer88]

you can also just boil them for few minutes before you add them to your tank. This will sterilize them and any baddies in there will not get into your system