Green shells

[9VaniaStein9]

Hi, I'm a new hermit crab owner after I rescued them from someone. I got some new shells for my crabs to move into, so I boiled the shells so they'd be clean and safe for my crabs to get into later. I used distilled water, a clean pan, and made sure all shells were empty before boiling.
The problem is, some (not all) of my shells are now green. About six of them. I've never done this before, and I haven't found anything about it except that it could be algae or minerals or something. The internet said to bleach them to get rid of the color, but I can't do that for the crabs. Is it dangerous for them to use the green shells? They weren't like that before boiling, so I'm not sure what happened exactly, and I want the crabs to be healthy.
I'm having trouble downloading an image right now. They're a very pretty color, shades varying from kind of an emerald to mossy green? It looks like it's the actual shells and not anything stuck to them. I don't think they were green before at all, so I don't understand. It's not the whole shell either. Like, they're also regular shell colors, it's just weird.

[curlysister]

Hmmm....was there something stuck on the shells that then boiled off?

[9VaniaStein9]

I didn't see anything when they went in, and I made sure that the shells were empty before I boiled them. I got shells that weren't painted or anything.

[JoeHermits]

Interesting how only some of them turned green

Not to question you, but just to be sure, do the shells that turned green happen to look like any of these?







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[9VaniaStein9]

Yes!

[JoeHermits]

Some shells, such as the striped turbos and green turbos in the images are shared, are naturally green. The color can become dull if they’re sitting out for a while but that color will become strikingly more vibrant when exposed to water

If your shells are these then that would be a mystery solved


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[9VaniaStein9]

Oh, thank you! I was scared to put any of the shells I boiled in after that. Thank God it's safe!
Have a blessed day!