# Almond Catappa Leaves



## Daniel Ma (Oct 18, 2013)

I've had my almond leaf in my cherry shrimp tank for like 3 weeks or more, and I think it just started to decay. I thought they were supposed to decayed a few days after it sank to the bottom of the tank. Is that normal for it to take a bit, or much longer for it to decay? Is it bad to leave the leaf in there for too long? I don't think I've notice any tannins released yet, so does it mean I can keep it in there?

All help is appreciated.
Thanks.


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## wsl (Apr 21, 2010)

I've never had any problems with leaving my almond leaves in my tank until its completely gone, which takes weeks. If you have just one leaf in there, you probably won't notice the water colour change from the tannins very easily.


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## Daniel Ma (Oct 18, 2013)

Ok then I'll just keep it in there until it completely rots away. The leaf is pretty big in the tank (it's a 5.5 gallon). 
Thanks for the help!


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

btw. keep an eye on the leave and that it is not buried. If the shrimps are not eating it, check if the leave is rotting. The last thing you want is for the leaf to rot causing the water quality to degrade. If you smell a trace of rotten egg smell, get the leaf out. Otherwise, the trace smell out of the tank is woody.

Good luck.


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## Daniel Ma (Oct 18, 2013)

What happens if the leaf is buried? It is decaying in parts of the leaf, like you can see the skeleton of it. The shrimps don't swarm all over it, which worried me but they do go on it occasionally. I'll keep an eye everything though.


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