Leptoseris and Pectinia stuck in UPS warehouse til Mon. How should I acclimate?

[GroktheCube]

The seller accidentally put the wrong address on the package, and UPS brought it to a warehouse that's closed til Monday.

The shipper has always packed corals very well in the past (1 gal+ poly bags with a small amount of water, floating or padding to minimize mucous), so there is a chance they'll arrive alive, albeit small.

If they are alive, what should I do differently from normal? Temp match only, then straight into some dip? Abbreviated dripping? Aeration/conditioner for shipping water?

 

[watchguy123]

I feel for you. Not a lot of chance that they are really going to survive that many days in a bag of water. And there is no real CPR for aquatic life. If the water is not foul, normal acclimation. If the water is turbid, dump them in fresh tank water (not in your display tank) and see what they look like. The best I've seen with a dipping is a lack of irritation in response to the dip not a revitalization per se. If the frags are looking lousy, I would not expect them to perk up because of the dip.

But perhaps they may survive nonetheless. Never hurts to think positive

 

[akitareefer]

Eeeek. Far chance from them being alive. You will most likely find their bags cloudy brown and foul. Even if there is something alive, rtn will probably wipe the skeleton clean in a day. Putting them in a iodine dip will only stress them more. You might try a very diluted coral RX dip....

Would be nice to see pictures so everyone can see what they look like. This has never happened to me but its always a fear. Hope your getting replacements or your money back. Good luck

 

[GroktheCube]

The seller will reship on Monday if they don't make it.

In the future, I just won't be ordering stuff for Saturday delivery. At least if this happened on a weekday, I could drive out to the UPS location. Spending hours getting the runaround from UPS wasn't how I planned to spend my Saturday.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a miracle, but I'm not exactly hopeful.

 

[wildman926]

Best of luck getting them alive, and making it in your tank. I really like Pectinias. Please let us know how it works out for you.

 

[GroktheCube]

To my shock and amazement, the corals were actually in decent shape when I got them in this morning. Hats off to pacific east aquaculture for a fantastic packing job. I expected bags of stinky brown soup, but I'm optimistic that they're all going to make it.

Here are some photos. As you can see, there is a fair amount of tissue loss on the Pectinia, and the Leptoseris is a bit faded, but otherwise they don't look half bad.















I will end up moving them eventually, but I think these are good spots for them to settle in. Moderate-low flow, on the bottom. The Pectinia should be just far enough away from the Favia to avoid getting hit with sweepers, but I'll keep an eye out tonight just in case.

 

[kichimark]

Ah man that is great news. :beer:

 

[wildman926]

Got your PM and this is great news!

 

[akitareefer]

All I have to say is WOW. So glad they made it, keep us updated.

 

[GroktheCube]

Thanks. I'm pretty excited. I think they'll both end up looking pretty good once they settle in and recover.