Getting food smell out of tank

[kcatipon]

Hi guys...I'm a brand new crabber, and brand new to this forum. I have a little bit of an issue - I was silly enough to give my hermit crabs shrimp heads in their food dish last night and leave it there until morning. Because of the lid on my tank, I didn't smell anything at first. But when I took off the lid to move some stuff around, I was hit with the most horrendous smell. I took out the food dish, but does anyone have any ideas how I can get the shrimp smell out of the tank? My first instinct would be to just take off the lid for a while, but I don't want my entire bedroom to start smelling like shrimp, and I don't want the humidity and temperature to drop. Any help? (It'd be much appreciated)

[CrabbyJo]

just crack the lid open a bit - there should be some airflow anyway, you don't want the air in the tank to be stale. Imagine being stuck in a room with no airflow!

The smell will dissipate over time, your room shouldn't really start to smell like shrimp. You could always open the bedroom window to let some air in, too, to help it air out.

I like to just put small amounts of smelly food in the tank, that way it's not a lot of smell. they don't eat much of it anyway lol.

btw, you said shrimp heads, I'm thinking maybe they were raw? It's best not to give your crabs raw crustaceans, as they could be carrying shellfish diseases that can be transferred to your crabs. Better to steam them up a bit before serving (until they turn pink).
I steam mine by putting a corningware glass bowl (oven safe) into a small pan with an inch or so of water (about halfway up the bowl), put the shrimp in the bowl, then cover the pan and bring the water to a boil. After about 10 minutes or so, the shrimp is done.

I do this with those little bay scallops, too.

[kcatipon]

Thanks for the info. My lid does provide airflow, and the shrimp heads were cooked...don't worry! I'll just wait for the smell to go away...

[CrabbyJo]

Good deal!
Hopefully it went away rather quickly.