Shipping large, delicate acros

[SDguy]

I wanted to start this thread not as a complaint, but more to find out how the whole thing works. I also thought the info would be interesting/useful to other people on this board, which is why I didn't just write a PM. I know shipping can be a huge problem, especially with some of these large, delicate, thin acros.

I just received this beautiful piece:

Unfortunately, it not only showed up broken, but I'd safely use the word shattered I had suggested that perhaps the coral should have been surrounded by plastic bags to occupy the empty water space around it, in the shipping bag. But I was told on the phone that this would smother and kill the coral. I didn't think that's how it happens though....

Could you folks provide some insight on how you deal with shipping large pieces like this? Perhaps how they get to you in one piece?

Thanks for any info you can provide...

 

[SDguy]

Well here it is acclimating:

 

[dfs/la2]

SDguy,


Thank you for your post. We sincerely apologize for the delay in responding. We have contacted our Aquaculture Coral & Marine Life Facility to get more information on how large corals are shipped to us. We will post a response as soon as we hear back.


Dallas R.
LiveAquaria
Drs. Foster & Smith

 

[SDguy]

Thank you. BTW, the coral itself is doing just fine. Excellent polyp extension on all the pieces within 15 minutes of being placed in the QT

 

[dfs/la2]

Peter,

Thank you for your patience while we obtained this information for you. Great care is taken when shipping larger more brittle corals. Larger bags are used to offer more room for the corals and additional water is added to the shipping bags. It is then wrapped in a piece of vinyl to prevent breakage when the corals are handled.

If you have further questions please feel free to contact us.

Joyce F.
LiveAquaria
Drs. Foster & Smith

 

[SDguy]

Thanks for the reply Joyce. Perhaps I'm not understanding things completely though...

A very large inflated bag, half filled with water, and a large brittle multibranched acro floating on a very small styro chunk upside down in the middle of it. Exactly what is to keep the coral from hitting the edges of the bag and breaking? I can't imagine driving that setup home from a LFS and having it in one piece, much less shipping it half way across the country....

I'm not sure more room for the corals, as you mention, is better in this case. Giving the coral the ability to fly around inside the bag is going to result in total breakage I would think?

And what do you mean "wrapped in vinyl"?

 

[dfs/la2]

Peter,

Thank you for reply. We would be happy to get this information to you, however our Aquaculture Coral and Marine Life Facility is closed at this time. We will post as soon as this information is available to us.

Sandy C.
Live Aquaria
Drs. Foster and Smith

 

[dfs/la2]

SDguy,

Thank you for your patience. We apologize for not be able to provide you with more detailed information quicker. The director of our Aquaculture Coral & Marine Life Facility is currently at the MACNA conference. He will be returning on Monday and will be posting more information regarding this upon his return.

As previously discussed with one of our friendly Live Aquaria agents; a partial credit in the amount of $45.00 has been applied to your credit card for the inconvenience of receiving the coral damaged.

Chris C.
Live Aquaria
Drs. Foster and Smith

 

[SDguy]

Hi Chris, no worries, some friends of mine are at MACNA too...hopefully they all met there

The credit was more than satisfactory. I was actually going to suggest a "meet half way" resolution, but the wonderful customer service rep beat me to it This thread was started for informational purposes only. I am in no way trying to get anything more for this coral, as it is perfectly alive and healthy. I just wanted to make that clear, in case it was not. I, in fact, would be very unhappy if you were to give my any more credit for this coral. DFS has always been more than fair in my dealings with you.

 

[DFSLiveAquaria]

SDguy,

As the Operations Manager of the Aquaculture Coral & Marine Life Facility, I am responsible for all the livestock from the time it is received, until the time it arrives to the customer’s door.

First off I would like to apologize for the condition this coral arrived in. Large corals in general do not ship well due to breakage issues. We see this from incoming shipments and on occasion, out going shipments as well. This is why we don’t commonly offer very large Acropora sp. colonies.

Shipping with multiple plastic bags wrapped around the coral for protection is one option, but if the package is delayed for any reason, the mucus excreted by the coral from rubbing on these bags can build up fouling the water and smothering the coral.
Floating the coral has worked the best for us since the Styrofoam hits the edge of the bag leaving the coral to float around in the water. This obviously did not work well with your large staghorn.

We are constantly working on ways to improve our shipping methods, so your input is greatly appreciated. Customer feedback is the only way we know what’s working and where we can make improvements.

Once again I would like to apologize for the condition of this coral, and thank you for the feedback and input.

Sincerely,

Steve Krogh
Aquaculture Coral & Marine Life Facility Operations Manager

 

[SDguy]

Ah yes, ok, that makes sense about the extra bags as cushions causing problems if the coral is delayed! I did not think of that.

And yes, then the only thing I would recommend next time is that you try to make sure that the styrofoam piece you use is at least as wide as the coral itself, so that it hits the edge of the bag before the branches of the coral. The styro used on my coral was no more than 3-4" across.

Thanks Steve for your reply, and I hope you found my input helpful