damp shipped imported Zoanthids pictorial

[organism]

A lot of people don't believe that zoanthids can be damp shipped, so I took some pictures of an import yesterday to show how a lot of them are packaged when they're shipped into the US. If you're shipping them yourself you want to put them wrapped in newspaper into a small bag with a little bit of air in it so that the water doesn't evaporate. There were about 30+ colonies in this box so there was no worry of evaporation since it was sealed tight. A lot of people don't know most of their zoanthids came in like this, enjoy!

Here's the box half unpacked

The other half of the unpacked bags

An unpacked colony

What they look like the next day

 

[650-IS350]

yea been hearing and had some shipped to me like this before. No issues. Don't have to worry about water leakage and " HOPEFULLY" this helps eliminate other critters trying to hitchhike and stuff.

 

[XSharkboyX]

Great post. Have seen this in the past, works well. Cuts down on shipping charges.

 

[kichimark]

darn it organism....i told you not to post the stuff I was getting in haha jk everyone not mine.

Organism- do they have heatpacks inside as well? or coldpacks?

 

[organism]

darn it organism....i told you not to post the stuff I was getting in haha jk everyone not mine.

Organism- do they have heatpacks inside as well? or coldpacks?

When they're damp shipped they have nothing actually, apparently it makes them a lot more tolerant to temperature changes once they slime up. Same with in the wild when the sun blares down on them on a 100+ degree day

 

[markgsa]

Sweet and interesting post. But how do you acclimate them? Just dump them in new tank?

 

[kichimark]

When they're damp shipped they have nothing actually, apparently it makes them a lot more tolerant to temperature changes once they slime up. Same with in the wild when the sun blares down on them on a 100+ degree day

Very interesting. I may try this during the coming weeks.

 

[johnny]

Org, for those of us in cold climates is this more of a concern? The water in the bag tends to stabilize the temperature swing, whereas with a heat pack and just damp paper would it allow the coral to cool quicker if the heat pack fails, gets wet, etc?

 

[NyReefNoob]

ive done this with a wet paper towel and shipped from NY to Cali, was no water to warm up or get to cold

 

[Friday Night]

Thats what im talking about. thanks for sharing. :smokin:

 

[organism]

Sweet and interesting post. But how do you acclimate them? Just dump them in new tank?

Just like any coral basically, dump them in the tank. The only difference is they need lots of flow, give them low flow and they'll melt away in a day or two.

ive done this with a wet paper towel and shipped from NY to Cali, was no water to warm up or get to cold

+1, if anything they can stand bigger temp swings with damp shipping. These were in transit for I think like 40+ hours, going from 100+ degree packed on land to a freezing cargo hold in a plane for a ton of hours.

 

[SIR PATRICK]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[mallorieGgator]

I think this is really neat. No ammonia issues or temp issues. Can u ship other corals like this I wonder? As long as they can create a slime coat it should work right?

 

[NyReefNoob]

lps i dont think would fair well, but know people who have shipped sps this way also

 

[saltwaterpimp]

Just like any coral basically, dump them in the tank. The only difference is they need lots of flow, give them low flow and they'll melt away in a day or two.

IMO they melted because stress of poor shipping rather then strong/low flow. Have you ever separated a single colony into two pieces and tested this theory ? Have you ever checked the temp inside a shipping container or temp of the newspaper upon arrival ?

I think this is really neat. No ammonia issues or temp issues. Can u ship other corals like this I wonder? As long as they can create a slime coat it should work right?

There are temp issues though..I have used a temp logger in 50 or more shipping trials, and 5 live shipments. Imo Dry shipping or not temp swings are and can be really stressful on all coral, causing slowgrowth,melting etc..
I have shipped , Leathers,toadstools,Yumas,zoanthids,palys,Montapora etc all dry shipped, and logged ...No Issues.. I also wouldn't use newspaper because of the inks .. If i would have shipped 50 of those "trials" there is no doubt in my mind the coral would have been DOA or dead shortly after..

 

[organism]

IMO they melted because stress of poor shipping rather then strong/low flow. Have you ever separated a single colony into two pieces and tested this theory ? Have you ever checked the temp inside a shipping container or temp of the newspaper upon arrival ?

Unfortunately flow has 100% to do with it. We're not talking one box of zoanthids here, after about 10k+ corals you tend to figure out what works and what doesn't... Besides, if temp swings had much to do with it then entire reefs would burn up on low tide, or corals would burn up on boats when they're going from the collection area to the collection station

That's the beauty of damp shipping, corals that are slimed up deal with temperatures better. A big reason corals shipped in water die when they overheat is that the bacteria populations in the water explode when it's warm and they suck out all the oxygen, the coral ends up suffocating pretty quickly. O2 exchange is a great benefit of damp shipping.

There are temp issues though..I have used a temp logger in 50 or more shipping trials, and 5 live shipments.

I have shipped , Leathers,toadstools,Yumas,zoanthids,palys,Montapora etc all dry shipped, and logged ...No Issues..

Sweet, that sounds just like the study I did in 2005-06 with about 200 or so shipments, did about 30 corals of each general type to get good scientific data. Out of curiosity, what were your numbers for the wide variety of LPS and the different kinds of mushrooms? Surprised you're under the impression that flow doesn't have much to do with it if you did a lot of damp shipping, and that there's no doubt in your mind newspapers would have killed things when you didn't try it.

Newspapers are fine, so are the unbleached public bathroom style paper towels. Bleached paper towels are no good. You need to be better informed before making sweeping incorrect generalizing statements like "shipping corals in newspaper kills them" and "they don't need good flow after landing". That's when bad advice can start being confused with facts, which does more harm than good in the long run...

 

[saltwaterpimp]

Unfortunately flow has 100% to do with it. We're not talking one box of zoanthids here, after about 10k+ corals you tend to figure out what works and what doesn't... Besides, if temp swings had much to do with it then entire reefs would burn up on low tide, or corals would burn up on boats when they're going from the collection area to the collection station

That's the beauty of damp shipping, corals that are slimed up deal with temperatures better. A big reason corals shipped in water die when they overheat is that the bacteria populations in the water explode when it's warm and they suck out all the oxygen, the coral ends up suffocating pretty quickly. O2 exchange is a great benefit of damp shipping.

__What about the cold weather ? If water went from 80 to 75 for 16hrs i think this would cause alot of stress no ?__



Sweet, that sounds just like the study I did in 2005-06 with about 200 or so shipments, did about 30 corals of each general type to get good scientific data. Out of curiosity, what were your numbers for the wide variety of LPS and the different kinds of mushrooms? Surprised you're under the impression that flow doesn't have much to do with it if you did a lot of damp shipping, and that there's no doubt in your mind newspapers would have killed things when you didn't try it.

Newspapers are fine, so are the unbleached public bathroom style paper towels. Bleached paper towels are no good. You need to be better informed before making sweeping incorrect generalizing statements like "shipping corals in newspaper kills them" and "they don't need good flow after landing". That's when bad advice can start being confused with facts, which does more harm than good in the long run...

I dont think implied that flow didn't have much to do with it, But secondary to stable temp through out shipping and transport. +1 to the unbleached towels thats all i use..And as far as your edit goes...I was talking about temp swings i had within the shipping container not the newspaper ! I never wrote shipping corals in newspaper kills them did I ? I have some data graphs on those shipments that you asked, Let me find them....Also not everyone is shipping and receiving from cali, Im in NY, The reason i keep bringing up temps..Its cold and simply damp shipping would = disaster

 

[saltwaterpimp]

Here are some of my published graphs. the graph you wanted to see is on page 8..

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic104623-9-8.aspx

 

[organism]

Here are some of my published graphs. the graph you wanted to see is on page 8..

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic104623-9-8.aspx

Wow, that is way more of a swing than the data from my monitors, and my shipping experiment started in philly. What kind of coolers were you using?

Either way, I can pretty much guarantee that stable temps are way secondary to the flow they get upon arrival.

 

[dogstar74]

Very good information guys, keep it comming. I was astounded to find that hermit crabs, and snails can do well with damp shipping as well. This should save a lot of money when ordering livestock. Well, at least in the weight catagory. Fish unfortunately, will still need a bag of water. Bummer. Keep it comming.

Aaron