Received shipped coral with 0 color

[CTaylor]

Hi,

I just got an acro overnighted. See pics included. The stock picture is really nicely colored. It arrived, I wasnt sure it was dead it was so non colored. ONly thing that indicated it wasnt was it wasn't pure white, just bone white. I know corals loose color in shipment, but what happened to this? Is there a way to make the color come back faster? I just started using acro power consistently, should that help. If the color in my tank now was the stock color I 100% would not have gotten the coral.

The coral in my tank is the second pic , the on on the right, since the pic was rotated in uploading.

 

[IUfan]

I'm pretty sure that's RTN'd, AKA dead. IME big colonies like that stress super easy, and are very difficult to keep alive.

I would leave in the tank a few weeks though, see if a small part of it survived maybe you can save a small piece and regrow. Sorry


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[outssider]

I don't think it's dead at all, at least not yet ! ….that looks like DD/live aquaria photo....if so, they juice their photos so don't expect too much...

 

[CTaylor]

I don't think it's dead at all, at least not yet ! "¦.that looks like DD/live aquaria photo....if so, they juice their photos so don't expect too much...

ugh.. so they are photoshopped colorwise/enhanced? no wonder they never look anything in color like pics when I get them. This one is the extreme though. I agree it is not dead. Though I had to think about it. The main thing that made me decide it's not dead is it's not pure white and the bag is shipped in was cloudy, not milky. But it also has only a light 'acro' odor. I test some frags if they have any life if they have any acro smell. This one might fail that test if I wasnt really thinking about it. Though I do see slight PE. I'm hoping it gets some similarty to the color in the stock pic. Mainly, though I just want it to survive and hopefully thrive, color secondary.

I have gottn only one acro from other source in years. Saltwaterfish.com. That came exactly as the pic!. And faired better than any acro I ever got. I had to frag that due to STN from alk swing. I might have to adopt SWF, though it's for me to do since I really like(d) LA service. Though that servicev slowly changing.

TY

 

[64Ivy]

Looks to me that if you matched the white balance in their photo to yours, that coral would look a lot more similar.

 

[CTaylor]

Looks to me that if you matched the white balance in their photo to yours, that coral would look a lot more similar.

Mine in reality is more bone color than the pic. Pic in my tank shows more tint of color than it has. The coral is only bone 0 other indication of blue or any other coloration. Not even a hint of it. If I can turn that around then great, no complaints. But if they are misrepresenting the coral then I'd be upset.

I heard the acropowr can work wonders. So we'll see what happens as I continue that also.

 

[Oldreeferman]

I see zero polyp extension just bare white coral, maybe alive maybe not.
Did you contact the sellers & show pics?
Im curious as to what the response was on such a large pc of coral & what they said to do. Just wondering the policy on the item since it may just be slow to come around OR its DOA.

 

[Big E]

My thoughts are that they snap a pic of raw coral once it comes in. A lot of times they may look ok but over a few weeks the coral shuts down or pales and that's what you end up getting delivered to you.

In the past DD would hold those corals till they were very healthy, growing & colored up. Pre Petco I bought a handful of colonies and they all looked great upon arrival and just like the picture. Those days are long gone...............most of their colonies look bad on the site now.

They were also using MH and now use LEDs which take wild corals more time to adjust to.

Shortcakes and anthocercis used to look awesome as well as many others back then.

I've pretty much crossed Live Aq. off my list as a source with the visual condition of their corals on the site and their new policies on warranties.

 

[CTaylor]

My thoughts are that they snap a pic of raw coral once it comes in. A lot of times they may look ok but over a few weeks the coral shuts down or pales and that's what you end up getting delivered to you.

In the past DD would hold those corals till they were very healthy, growing & colored up. Pre Petco I bought a handful of colonies and they all looked great upon arrival and just like the picture. Those days are long gone...............most of their colonies look bad on the site now.

They were also using MH and now use LEDs which take wild corals more time to adjust to.

Shortcakes and anthocercis used to look awesome as well as many others back then.

I've pretty much crossed Live Aq. off my list as a source with the visual condition of their corals on the site and their new policies on warranties.

Who do you use now?
I'm thinking to try more SWF , but they just have only one pic of each of their corals, so hard to get good visual. But the one I got from them was great. I had a alk fluc that caused it to STN :-/. I think I'm able to save one frag of it. Side note I think acropower is helping me to avoid that supersensitivity (?).

Anyhow, I'm glad you chimed in. Give me more reason to make a change.

* I did get a trio of site unseen aussie triple back from LA on Saturday. I made that order before receiving the first one. This triple is actually very nice. I'm attaching pics of two of those. One is in pic with two others. The one on right lower is the new one. It has decent color, and PE (hard to see it). The one on left lower is the one in question. The one above is one I got about a month ago -- part of it died, which I clipped and superglued. I belive that one had partial death from shipment. The other pic is just one of the other two. I showed that one b/c you can see the PE on that one.

The orig one in question has the tiniest PE, and most prnounced, but not much, on lower branches. It may even be dead, but I think it is PE , just each corralite had a tip of a tentacle possibly showing.

Oldreeferman,
I think there is a tinnnyyy PE, not visible in pic. If I see algae start to grow on coral then I know it's dead, and the PE is just in my head . I did show LA, and they documented, and said to keep a watch and keep them posted. They gnerally give me extensions if it's something that takes a while to actually see the result (dying or coming back).

 

[Uncle99]

I see zero polyp extension just bare white coral.

Agreed, that does not look right to me either.
RTN as mentioned above seems correct.
Talk to the seller, there should be some recourse for DOA.
You can frag the parts with polyp extension, hard to see in a pic, regrow from there.

 

[biecacka]

Unfortunately, I don’t even think they are reliable source for fish anymore......
I am truly sorry you had this show up looking like that. I hope it pulls through for you.


Corey

 

[CTaylor]

If I'm up late at night .. 2 am or so, I'll check PE. As it will probably be most extended then. I'm guessing that I do see a tiny amount now. And it doesnt look quite dead skeleton white to me in person. And if it did RTN in bag, I'm thinking the bag water would be milky not cloudy -- as I have had PE happen in shipment before, and the bag smelled horrible and milky/tan water and coral nearly bleached white. This one doesnt (fully) check off any one of those boxes. We'll see......
Though again, I'm very impressed with the three they sent for Saturday.
I'll keep posted in the original one's health and what LA does if it goes actually downhill.

TY!

 

[biecacka]

Good luck and keep us posted!



Corey

 

[CTaylor]

Good luck and keep us posted!



Corey

I am pretty sure I see the tiniest bit of PE on all polyps right now. One thin, short tentacle per polyp. And no hint of algae on any of the coral. If it was dead, I suspect I'd see some green/brown, other algae colored spots on it, since no crabs or snails have been seen on it -- also inidicating it is alive. The other three I got on Saturday are doing really well.
I'll plug acropower again. I think it is helping with this and all my corals.

 

[Big E]

Who do you use now?
I'm thinking to try more SWF , but they just have only one pic of each of their corals, so hard to get good visual. But the one I got from them was great. I had a alk fluc that caused it to STN :-/. I think I'm able to save one frag of it. Side note I think acropower is helping me to avoid that supersensitivity (?).

Anyhow, I'm glad you chimed in. Give me more reason to make a change.

* I did get a trio of site unseen aussie triple back from LA on Saturday. I made that order before receiving the first one. This triple is actually very nice. I'm attaching pics of two of those. One is in pic with two others. The one on right lower is the new one. It has decent color, and PE (hard to see it). The one on left lower is the one in question. The one above is one I got about a month ago -- part of it died, which I clipped and superglued. I belive that one had partial death from shipment. The other pic is just one of the other two. I showed that one b/c you can see the PE on that one.

The orig one in question has the tiniest PE, and most prnounced, but not much, on lower branches. It may even be dead, but I think it is PE , just each corralite had a tip of a tentacle possibly showing.

Oldreeferman,
I think there is a tinnnyyy PE, not visible in pic. If I see algae start to grow on coral then I know it's dead, and the PE is just in my head . I did show LA, and they documented, and said to keep a watch and keep them posted. They gnerally give me extensions if it's something that takes a while to actually see the result (dying or coming back).

At this point there is no one in particular as far as vendors go..........they all have the same Aussie/Tonga pieces in the same condition. They get them and put up for sale immediately.

The only colonies I've bought in the last few years have been from people shutting down tanks.

I don't want to sound negative but all three of those new corals you have are bleached/pale. The spathulata at the top are hard to keep alive......if you're lucky enough to keep it alive it will take months upon months to color it up if ever.

The one on the left is a Tonga pink milli I believe they call it? Not sure it will ever be more than a rusty pink.

The tri-color is the only one that will probably do well for you. Those are a dime a dozen and you can grow an aqua farmed frag into a colony in a year..........they grow fast.

From what's available now I'd stick to buying frags or large pieces from other reefers. I know it sucks, but patience pays off in the long run.