Amy's 10 Grd A+ INDIAN ALMOND (CATAPPA/KETAPANG) LEAVES

Amy's Ketapang Inc

Product

Ketapang or Sea Almond or Indian Almond or Terminalia catappa leaves are known to most, if not all Asian breeders of blackwater tropical fishes, to be one of the best water conditioners to promote healing and breeding. They are known to have antibacteria and antifungal properties. Bettas are known to be induced to spawn by just putting a few of the leaves into their tank. Fish suffering finrot or injuries (such as spawning injuries) will definitely benefit from having the leaves in their quarantine tub. But they can be used for the usual aquariums too.

When soaked in water these leaves will leach a strong brown dye that is full of organic acids like humic acids and tannic acids. These may be useful for inhibiting many types of bacteria as well as to detoxify harmful heavy metals found in the aquarium. But that is not all!

Referring to leaves from the Terminalia catappa tree, Dr Robert J. Goldstein (not the podiatrist- wannabe terrorist of Florida; but the aquarist and environmental consultant of North Carolina who wrote numerous book on fish-keepings), writes in his 2002 paper entitled “Water Conditioners and Additives”:

The large, leathery leaves are used in folk medicine to treat infections, indigestion, and other medical conditions. The water extract makes a pharmacologically powerful tea… In southeast Asia, betta breeders add a dried leaf to provide a surface for the bubblenest and to leach substances that protect the fry from diseases. As the leaves decay, they also provide detritus to grow extract-resistant infusoria for the babies. Of 35 aromatic (ring structure) substances identified from these leaves, noteworthy were benzene-acetaldehyde, acetones, and sabinen-hydrate. The first is strongly antimicrobial, and several of the 35 others destroy microbial cell membranes.

And he adds:

“So these leaves are not simply sources of stains and tannins and other acids as we would get from oak or hickory, but rich in many other kinds of complex and highly effective chemicals with a wide range of physiological and antimicrobial effects.”

Most of your leaves will be between 7-10" (and sometimes reaching up to 12"). They are selectively collected from leaves that have naturally fallen and of good quality. See my introduction above, and see photo for indication of quality (colour hue may vary from batch to batch, but all leaves that are greenish or smell green or are weather-beaten are rejected). And yes, in case you are wondering, the leaves in the photo are crispy dry.

You may wish to note that our leaves are selective picked from those that have naturally fallen from the trees after turning red in a natural chemical/biological process. These are the leaves that tan the blackwater streams in the forest where bettas and arowanas are found. We do not harvest fresh leaves from the trees and dry them. If we do that, the leaves will look very nice and indeed easier to obtain; but we doubt their efficacy for aquatic use. My husband will never use such leaves; and we do not know of any tropical fish breeder who will. All the breeders we know who use Ketapang Leaves will only use naturally fallen and dried ones. Indeed, if you try these naturally fallen leaves once, you will probably never go back to freshly harvested leaves! They have an aromatic smell that freshly harvested leaves do not have (it was this sweet smell that first led breeders and herbalists to suspect that they have beneficial properties), and they have a reddish tinge absent from freshly harvested leaves.

Dosage

For bettas, put a 1-2 sq inch piece (or a quarter of a leaf) into each 1 gallons (4 litre) jar. For usual aquarium (with tetras, gouramis, arrowanas, apistos etc), put 2-3 leaves per 25 gallons (100 litres) of water for 14-21 days. Simply put the leaves into the aquarium. After 1-2 days the leaves will be water-logged and sink. Apart from their benefical effects on the water, they will tan the water slightly (to a clear amber) and provide a very natural stream-bottom look to your aquarium. Alternatively, you can boil the leaves to make blackwater extract and dose when you need. Soaking the leaves in a bucket for a week will produce a similar result.

Quality Assurance

All our leaves goes through a four-level quality control:

• Our first level quality occurs at picking. We pick the leaves from 6 or 7 different locations in Singapore where in total there are more than a hundred catappa trees which bear good quality leaves (not every catappa tree bear such leave. Some bear only yellow or thin leaves). We only pick leaves that are are freshly fallen from the tree and are dark red or brown (not green) and not bleached (or weather-beaten), whole, and not torn or have large holes (Indian Almond is one of the most delicious trees, so they very likely to get infested by caterpillars — which in itself is a good indication that the tree is not covered with toxic substances).
• Our second level occurs at the washing and drying process. Leaves that are still fresh are shade-dried after washing. Some leaves are thrown away at these stage (e.g. leaves that are too dirty, green, or look/smell bad).
• Our third level occurs at grade sorting. We are currently using a 5 grade system: Grade A Large (7"+), Grade A small (5-7"); Grade A baby (3-5"); Grade B Large (7"+); Grade C (anything else still usable). Grade A leaves are whole, dark and without holes. Grade B are large leaves which may have small holes or tears. Grade C leaves are those that are still usable but have tears from washing or have too many holes. These are sold by weight.
• Our fourth level quality control occurs at packing. As each leave is packed into the ziploc bag, some leaves which passed through the third level are downgraded.

Handling & Shipping

The leaves have been washed and dried and are ready for delivery. I will generally send the package out on the same day or at the latest on the next working day after I receive your remittance and address confirmation by Paypal. I am afraid I can no longer send out any package before receiving payment as I have already been played out twice by ebayers who promised to pay but never did even after receiving the package and despite numerous reminders.

Barring postal delays beyond my control, your package should arrive within 10 working days (2 weeks) for most destinations in US, UK and Europe. They may be used immediately upon arrival.

Utmost care is taken to ensure that your leaves arrive in a good condition. If I have to buy a bigger box or pay more for postage for this purpose, I will do so at no extra cost to you. This makes my profit margin very low especially after subtracting ebay and paypal charges (About 20+% of what you pay goes to Paypal & Ebay). But my principle is to provide value for money for my Customers! However, occassionally some of the leave will suffer some cracks as they are thoroughly dried. Such cracks, of course would no diminish the efficacy of the leaves.

Shipping Cost

You pay a little less than what the post office charges me. I will pay any excess (and usually there is an excess due to larger leaves)! Shipping is guaranteed through re-shipments at not extra cost to you. I have had customers who ended up with 2 packages at the price of 1 due to postal delays beyond my control. If you request for a reshipment and you end up with two packages, you could help me out if you like by reimbursing me for the postage cost of the second package. But this is not obligatory. If reshipment fails again (never happened to me thus far), I will issue a full-refund.

My postage fee may appear to be little higher because of LARGER and thicker leaves as well as proper packaging. I don't earn anything from postage (everything you pay goes to the post-office), but I try to keep the price of my leaves low to make it affordable to you.

Customs & Quarantine Rules

Price Guarantee

I keep my price low as a principle (For the LORD our Creator provides the leaves freely, and all I do is select, wash, dry, sort, pack and send!).

Why Buy  in Bulk (100+)?

Not only is it cheaper and you do not need to keep buying, but the leaves have practically no shelf life. You can, of course, resell part of what you buy as the way I pack the leaves ensures that they will arrive in very good condition.

Testimonials

"As I'm writing, I have the two ziplock bags with the leaves in front of me. The leaves appear to be in perfect condition. The colour and scent are lovely, I'm amazed by the quality and the sheer size of these leaves...I think I now have enough ketapang to last for a lifetime! I want to congratulate you on your excellent job in selecting and packing the leaves. I am totally pleased with this transaction."

An Australian customer (of Melbourne) wrote:

"I just want to let you know that the leaves are fantastic. The smell and quality is unbelieveable."

A US customer (ebay id: Karmafarmaquatics) wrote:

"I got them!… They are PERFECT!! Exactly what I wanted. I am SOOOOOO happy with the leaves!... I will be buying more as soon as these are gone. I will NEVER buy from anyone else ever again! … The last person who sent me leaves sent TINY leaves that were still green!! What a waste of money..... the leaves weren't even mature! By buying from you I am assured that i am getting leaves that are MATURE, which have fallen from the tree naturally."

Another US customer (of Phoenix, Arizona) wrote:

"I just received your almond leaves... The size and quality of the leaves are excellent and my Bettas love them.  I had two pair just spawn this morning after I put them in the spawning tank last night with a nice chunk of leaf. .... They really are the best I have seen -- rich and dark in color.  Even the smell is a lot stronger than ones I have used previously.  The other ones I have used never tinted the water but these do just like the Atison's Betta Spa I used to use."

Yet another US customer (of Naperville, Illinois) wrote:

Thank you for reading.

Thank you in advance for your business and your confidence. 

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