Just lost a bundle :(

[ACBlinky]

I ordered some beautiful corals online, from a great guy, and I was SO excited about the order... but it arrived and a bag had burst, soaking the heat packs, and the inside of the box was freezing cold. Poor corals didn't stand a chance. When I opened the bags, some smelled a bit funky, others flat-out stank. I drip acclimated them, and some of them looked salvageable, but things changed when I added the frags to the tank. The flesh flew off the LPS skeletons once the current hit them, the SPS slimed, then their skin sort of peeled off... all that's left a few hours later is a lot of bare skeletons and one ANGRY reef. I assume the die-off and associated stress chemicals are affecting my other corals, because many of them have partially retracted. I do have ONE frag from the order (polyps) that looks like it may recover, so it may not be a total loss.

I put fresh carbon in the sump, and I'm sure everything will be fine, but it's a bummer to lose a whole box full of gorgeous creatures before I even really got a chance to see them

The seller is fantastic, he's standing by his guarantee and will credit me for replacements, but I'd much rather have the frags.

 

[Patroklos]

I had a similar experience earlier this week, not at all the seller's fault who is also replacing my frags. I think the cold snap over this week caught a lot of people off guard.

 

[ptreef]

Good thing he is standing with the guarantee. Hope next round works out.

 

[biggles]

Damn that sucks It's good that you dealt with an honorable person who stands by his guarantee. It's horrible to watch a potentially beautifully coral disintegrate before your eyes and there is nothing you can do to help it.

 

[ReefPharmer]

If the seller takes care of you, please post their name so others can feel confident with purchasing from this person.

 

[usmc121581]

I also just had an experience with a clean up crew order. Got the box and the bags were I e cold 3 emerald crabs were long gone and most of the hermits were handing out there shell. However once I put the bags in the tank to warm up most everything came back to life. I last a handful of snails. The seller is refunding the dead stock. I guess the cold was just to much for ordering.

 

[ACBlinky]

I wasn't sure we were allowed to post sellers' info, but if we are, this guy is fantastic -- fragbox.ca is a small seller, but one of the only places to buy coral frags in my area (things are pretty limited in Canada). He's a real gentleman, and offers fantastic customer service.

I woke up this morning to see that the zoa frag I thought was a goner may actually open up, and the yellow polyps are definitely going to be okay, but the SPS and LPS are bare, white skeletons. The nassarius and pods had a feast last night and picked everything clean.

Carbon seems to have settled the rest of the tank down, all the established corals are behaving as usual.

 

[jdpiii3]

I'm sorry to hear so many of these coral pieces died, it's great that the seller is standing behind them. One question though, why did you add these to your main reef display and not Quarantine them?

 

[ACBlinky]

The display is fishless, so after drip acclimation they went straight into the display. I have limited space, I can't QT fish and corals at the same time. Every coral I buy goes through the same routine, and healthy ones perk up as soon as they hit the display; these ones were dead before I even tried