HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi! So I have a 40 g breeder that has 2 humidity and temperature gauges, one on my humid/cooler side and another that was in the middle. I was the kind that had a small stick on patch with Velcro that the actually gauge attached to, but recently I guess the stick on that was on the glass started to slide down? I didn’t notice until the actual gauge fell, and now there’s this nasty glue smear from the stick on Velcro patch on the glass of my tank. I covered it with a piece of a flash card (best thing I had) so the crabs wouldn’t get their limbs stuck on it, and now where the glue was it’s see through; I can see through the flash card and see the light on the other side? I’ve tried basically everything from soaps to scraping to get this residue off but nothings works. I don’t want to use anything potentially toxic to the crabs, but it’s about 2 inches from the lid so if I had to use a small amount of anything non-crab safe I could safely do it and then sterilize it for them without risk of them getting it, but I’m so confused at what actually caused it to happen. I had used that same little plastic gauge for so long without issue, removing and resticking it without the residue. I’ll try to post a photo. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Have you tried a straight razor? That usually gets everything, no chemicals required.

I was going to suggest a razor blade. It usually gets anything off glass. I know rubbing alcohol gets sticky off most things but I’d be afraid it could be harmful

Thanks! I considered a razor blade, but I was concerned about scratching. I’m thinking that that’s the only option at this point, so I’ll give it a go and just be careful!

I use a razors regularly on my tanks and have never had issues with scratching. We have seriously hard water and scraping is the easiest way to keep things spotless around here! Just make sure the glass is wet first, either with water or vinegar.

Emmorgan wrote:Thanks! I considered a razor blade, but I was concerned about scratching. I’m thinking that that’s the only option at this point, so I’ll give it a go and just be careful!

As long you have good technique - keep the razor around 45 degrees drom the glass - and you shouldnt scratch the glass. If it helps, googling/youtubing 'algae removal from glass aquarium' will demonstrate how to do so, many aquarium people use razors as part of their maintainence equipment and speaking from experience, its easier than what one would think.

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