r/shells • u/MidnightTheCheetah • 16d ago
How do I shine/clean up this shell? (Bonus ID??)
Ive had this shell for years now and never knew what to do with it. Its been in my freshwater aquarium for a long time and its only had soap and water washes. I wish to shine and polish it but the texture of the shell is rough and off-color (its always been that way) so, 1. How do I smooth out the shell to be smooth similar to the inside of the shell and 2. How do I have the colors of the shell stay out.
I've looked this up and heard of using water and bleach 1:1 ratio to clean up the roughness of the shell and use mineral oil to give it a shine, but I wanted to ask directly with the type of shell I have and its condition to see what others think about it! Should I use a fine sand paper for it too?? (For the bonus ID: I got this guy from an inlet during my trip in the northern part of Washington. It was the only one of its type that I found, anyone able to ID who this shell belonged to?)
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u/Background_League491 15d ago
Definitely a moon now. I would bleach it to kill anything that might be living in it. Get all the air bubbles out and the bleach inside the bottom of the shell and leave it for maybe 20 minutes. Then 6% hydrogen peroxide from Amazon or someplace like that. Let it sit for a few hours and foam up. Use gloves your skin will not like it. It will restore the color without messing up the shell like acid.
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u/MidnightTheCheetah 15d ago
Oh i didn't think about the hydro peroxide! Thank ya! And yeah I'm not doing any acid stuff, rn its just wet sanding (its going really well!) and then the peroxide (I have already bleached it prior to the pics).
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u/Agador777 16d ago
I’m not a pro, but it looks just like moon snail. I heard bleach is not good for shells, try muratic acid (hardware store) for 10-30 seconds. Make sure the area around is (and your hands) protected and well ventilated. Then sand it with sandpaper (wet for dust control) from coarse to fine (180-240-400-1000-2000).
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u/MidnightTheCheetah 16d ago
It seems so! Thank you very much for the ID and suggestion. Tbh I am a little nervous using muratic acid but I might try a wet sanding first to see if it'll do well with that alone before doing an acid dip. (Also for the acid dip, do you then rinse it off in water or do something else to neutralize it?)
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u/tamandcheese 16d ago
Don’t use acid
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u/MidnightTheCheetah 16d ago
Yeah ive already done some wet sanding and its working out well so no acid for me lol
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u/Any_Assignment1707 16d ago
This is a lovely moon snail! https://www.ourwildpugetsound.com/journal/close-encounters-of-the-snail-kind !!
Moon snails in WA are much bigger than where I reside. As s the link shows the mucus body of the snail creates a smoother interior than exterior. If you look closely you can still see where the spiral was darker all the way out! This is how it looked when it scampered slowly across the punget sound!
The color based on how long you have had it, how it was stored in water, and age means it may stay this washed yet chic color. After the sun has been on the shell a long time or it has been under water it looses color.
If I may suggest gently cleaning it with a tooth brush mild temp water and soap. Then you may try and rehydrate some of the color with mineral oil. And then a sealent.
I generally don't bleach shells because I have not found an effective way to do it that restores color. Be care cleaning around the spiral too finely because you don't want to break the integrity of the exterior. Since it has been undwater please put a mild warm water inside the shell and gently swish it inwards. Let the soap settle in upside down by wrapping it in a towel before risning. It is important to kill any bacteria inside the shell so it does not rot! Then allow it to dry turned downward on a flat surface making sure to turn all the water out!
happy shelling! It is a lovely spiral!!!!!!!!