Problems with LiveAquaria livestock

[SlowCobra]

So besides myself, Pescadero, and Buyer Name editted until he contacts LA has anyone else recently ordered from LA and had poor success?

As for myself, out of 12 fish ordered, 7 died. 1 was DOA. 2 went to someone elses house and died within 2 days. 4 died in my tank. 2 accounted for and 2 lost somewhere in the liverock.


Pescadero had over 20 deaths from his order.


Buyer name editted until he contacts LAordered a couple fish that just arrived yesterday and already has 1 dead tang. He said there was already a mark on it's body upon arrival.



I use to love LA/DFS even despite other issues I had with their shipping of corals. I have purchased numerous fish from them and all of them have done well. Given the above numbers it would appear that the Quality Control has taken a drastic nosedive. In my opinion anyway.


Yes they credit your account but that doesn't cover the $35-50 spent for shipping. Also they are requesting bodies, at least from myself and Pescadero, now to be covered under the 14 day guarantee. Well as most of you know having a heavily stocked(corals and live rock) reef tank it becomes nearly impossible to retrieve a body short of destroying the tank. For the roughly $30 I am not tearing my tank apart to find 2 dead fish. That is what the cleanup crew is there for.

Anyone else order fish from LA in the last few weeks and suffer unexplained losses?

 

[Bebo77]

how are you acclimating them?

how are your water parameters?

 

[SlowCobra]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12254961#post12254961 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bebo77
how are you acclimating them?

how are your water parameters?

It's 5 different tanks in different parts of the Chicagoland Area from 3 different people. Do you really think that acclimation and water parameters are the issue?

 

[Jeff]

Bebo, quality...not quantity!!

 

[Bebo77]

this is why i ask...

you lost 7 of 10 fish

pescadero lost 20 fish

that is a lot of fish to add at once... so if you are not 1 acclimating them correctly or 2 have good water parameters you can easly shock the fish..

and 20 deaths... come on... that is crazy... unless he has a 1000g tank.. thats to many fish to add at once!

 

[Bebo77]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12255047#post12255047 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jeff
Bebo, quality...not quantity!!

lol... exactly...

 

[Jeff]

I meant your answers hehe

 

[Bebo77]

lol... gotta spread the love man... lol

 

[renisel]

I had a scott's fairy wrasse go into hiding immediately after entering my tank about a month ago, and never come back out. I tore apart my reef last week to put all my fish into hypo, and there was no sign of the wrasse. I emailed LA and explained that I have no reason to believe that it lived for fourteen days, and they gave me the credit.

I suspect that the reason they're asking for samples from you guys and not me is that I ordered a number of specimens and only lost one. If I said most or all of my fish died, I'd expect them to want to have a look at the bodies.

As far as the shipping, I think that's just a risk you need to factor in when you order online. Also, even with the shipping included, a fish from LA is often comparable in price to a fish from an LFS. The partial refund they give is better than you'll see from most any LFS.

 

[Ryan009]

FWIW - I've ordered about 9 fish for two tanks over the past couple of weeks and haven't had any deaths. They all arrived fine and seem to be thriving.

These were all regular stock fish though, nothing from Divers Den which is held in a different facility.

 

[SlowCobra]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12255048#post12255048 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bebo77
this is why i ask...

you lost 7 of 10 fish

pescadero lost 20 fish

that is a lot of fish to add at once... so if you are not 1 acclimating them correctly or 2 have good water parameters you can easly shock the fish..

and 20 deaths... come on... that is crazy... unless he has a 1000g tank.. thats to many fish to add at once!

It is not a water quality or acclimation issue at least I can verify that for myself and the buyer who does not want to be named. Having a reef tank requires maintaining excellent water quality. In your 12000 posts I would hope you have picked that up. Corals are the first thing to show a water quality issue.

Pescadero examined several of his deaths under a microscope and found that all the fish shipped were actually diseased.


This thread is asking others in the CHICAGOLAND area about their livestock order from LA.

 

[Bebo77]

those fish all come from one of the largest wholesellers here in los angeles.. but since you only have 1465 posts.. you probably know all about that too...

 

[PSam]

I've never had anything but exceptionally packed and exceptionally healthy livestock from them (fish & coral), including an order I got last week. I only order from Diver's Den though. Only exception was a coral that came from the CA shipping facility that arrived in cold water. Still made it.

 

[sugartooth]

3 fish from Diver's Den here....so far no problems.

 

[Trotter]

I have never had a problem with them. I have only ordered fish from them 3 times but have been pleased.

 

[BreadmanMike]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12255131#post12255131 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bebo77
those fish all come from one of the largest wholesellers here in los angeles.. but since you only have 1465 posts.. you probably know all about that too...

I hate Quality Marine. There's nothing quality about them. I wish the good Doctors could come up with an alternative to them. I'm not sure what post counts have to do with that?

I usually only order from DD for that reason. I know what goes through Rhinelander will be healthy and shipped with care. I did however get 5 anthias on a group buy with Pescadero. All five are healthy.

 

[mcliffy2]

Sorry to hear about your losses and I will say that off the bat, regardless of anything else, 12 fish at once seems like a lot, but I don't want to judge - maybe there is an explanation? Do you have a huge system? Were these going into multiple tanks?

Also, what kind of fish were they? And I second more out of curiousity if you drip acclimated? Not trying to judge, just curious...

 

[glassbox-design]

we'll see. we just dropped a good chunk on their diver's den. my bank account hates liveaquaria

 

[BreadmanMike]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12255651#post12255651 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by glassbox-design
we'll see. we just dropped a good chunk on their diver's den. my bank account hates liveaquaria

DD is where it's at Eric. I bet 90% of the issues they have come from Cali shipments. The orders from Rhinelander come with several bags warapped in several pieces of black plastic. They use more then enough heat/cold packs and make sure everything won't move around during shipping. Everytime I get something from Cali, there is no balck plastic, it's in one bag, one heat or cold pack and has leaked water.

I don't know if LA has representatives keeping track of what gets shipped out of Cali to the public, but they should.

 

[Sullyman]

I have had no problems with them, if