My fighting conch is a hot mess. How can I give him a bath?

[Golden Age]

This guy isn't stepping into the ring looking like this. He's got algae growing on him, some cyano it appears, and the sand is sticking to him probably making it difficult to get around.

I've had him for about 4 months and he's been a beast. Easily one of my favorite inhabitants. He's always out and about but I read that these guys typically stay buried for long periods of time and I'm starting to wonder if he's starving and constantly looking for food?

What's the best way to clean him off? If I brush his shell off will all that stuff thats on him find another place in my tank? I don't have any problems with algae or cyano (just a small 3 inch patch in the back that constantly gets cyano that the conch eats) and don't want to brush him off if it's going to spread everywhere.

Any suggestions? Or should I just leave him alone?

 

[ocellaris123]

Just scrub him off in a container of tank water and discard the water afterwards.

 

[pagojoe]

I've cleaned a bunch of them. If you want the coralline off, too, just take a thin-bladed pocket knife and start near the anterior end (where the eyes are) and scrape toward the spire. You can carve all the growths off without harming the snail or the shell. The shell is smooth and hard enough that you won't dig into it. The few minutes out of the water won't hurt the conch.

Cheers,



Don

 

[Betta132]

Hold him in a bowl of clean saltwater and scrub him with an unused toothbrush. A pocketknife can be used to scrape hard stuff off, if needed, just don't use it near the opening of the shell.

 

[KeystoneAq]

I've had to do a 48 hour cycle of no lights on a system with cyano and it left all of my snails with beautiful clean shells, won't get rid of coralline tho

 

[apexkeeper]

Why mess with him, I bet he enjoys his camouflage... :thumbsup:

For some reason the only algae that grows in my tank grows on my snails shells, I think it gives them character. Every once in a while they will have a group cleaning party which is entertaining to watch.