leather

Tabitha

New member
I bought a yellow leather a few days ago. Once it was properly acclimated i put it in my tank. To my surprise it opened immediately, and for the first two days. Today I noticed it didn't open and there appears to be a thin white film on it...what the heck??
 
I have a leather and every now and then if it's a little stressed ( such as moving from LFS to tank) it will produce a thin film over the whole body, and then in a few days it all peels off by itself. I've read that's it's best if you help it off and keep it out of the water column though. Overall it's a normal thing for leathers, nothing for much concern
 
ok now im worried about that stress issue! yesterday one of my hermits climbed on top of the leather and the weight of the crab sent the leather into the sand. I took him off and put the leather back in its original position.....maybe that stressed it??? i dunno but i'm gonna go get the film off.
 
gentle flow across leather will remove film. it is a sign of growth usually. stress usually just makes it retract and shrink up. you will notice that this film will appear as leather grows and sheds, kinda like shrimp molting. my sally lightfoot crab loves to eat the white film from my leather and sea lettuce. hope this helped
 
My leather does the same thing, the white film just needs a day or two of water flow to help it off. if the crab knocks it over that easily, maybe give it a hand by epoxying it to the LR, or just waiting for it to grow in.
 
i agree w/ teh above posts about the growth and stress. mine has done most of it due to growth i'd say. but recently i had a stretch of 7 days where it wouldn't open at all. i was worried to the bones. but it turned out okay.

in my case, there were some aluminium based phosphate inhibitors which were part of the problem. something to consider if you have a similar situation.
 
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