Hello Ellen and everyone else,

It sounds like you are leaving your shells standing in fresh water. When I
first started cleaning shells, I had a lot of shell damage from leaving them in
fresh water. It was most evident with the cowries, but slightly evident with
most of them. The finish was dulled. Now I just use the "freeze and thaw
method", and do the swishing during the thaw periods. The freezing dries out
the animal and makes it pull away from the shell. It normally is easy to have a
totally clean shell in only 2 or 3 freezings. I am an advocate of using the
water pik! I got an old one at a garage sale and use it with great success. It
is best to use it outdoors since this is a messy job! Of course, it may be
snowing in Flagstaff  now! What shells did you find? We would all be interested
in hearing!

Thanks,

Karen

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