Corals arrived after 4 days shipping - what to do with them?

[Gribbles]

As per title, I ordered 8 corals from @AquaSD

Order was scheduled to deliver on Friday 6/21
UPS delayed the shipment
Coral arrived today about 15 minutes ago
Half of the bags are a murky brown color, I assume those are complete goners. Not even going to open them because they already smell of the most awful thing I've ever smelt. It makes skimmer juice seem pleasant. Those little 'fart smelling' prank things that we all used as kids? That's nothing compared to the smell of these coral.

The other half are floating in my sump to temp acclimate. Bags unopened.

I'm hesitant to add them to the tank at this point. 4 days is a long time shipping. I'm in Houston, so the weather is scorching hot. The bags feel warm, much warmer than the 78 of the tank water.

What is your advice?

I'm going to try and get in touch with AquaSD this morning to get their input, and I've tagged them here as well.

 

[Reefer Matt]

As per title, I ordered 8 corals from @AquaSD

Order was scheduled to deliver on Friday 6/21
UPS delayed the shipment
Coral arrived today about 15 minutes ago
Half of the bags are a murky brown color, I assume those are complete goners. Not even going to open them because they already smell of the most awful thing I've ever smelt. It makes skimmer juice seem pleasant. Those little 'fart smelling' prank things that we all used as kids? That's nothing compared to the smell of these coral.

The other half are floating in my sump to temp acclimate. Bags unopened.

I'm hesitant to add them to the tank at this point. 4 days is a long time shipping. I'm in Houston, so the weather is scorching hot. The bags feel warm, much warmer than the 78 of the tank water.

What is your advice?

I'm going to try and get in touch with AquaSD this morning to get their input, and I've tagged them here as well.

I would take pictures and notify the seller. I wouldn’t add anything to my tank that has brown or smelly water.

 

[Gribbles]

I would take pictures and notify the seller. I wouldn’t add anything to my tank that has brown or smelly water.

Right, already notified the seller. Not adding the corals with the death water.

What about the corals that don't immediately look dead and the water is clear? Would you add those?

 

[Cell]

I'd pull them all out for dipping or disposal, evaluate health when they are in some clean water.

 

[Gribbles]

Would UPS delay a shipment (to investigate or something?) if the bags leaked and the box is all wet?

 

[Reefer Matt]

Right, already notified the seller. Not adding the corals with the death water.

What about the corals that don't immediately look dead and the water is clear? Would you add those?

I’d inspect them and see. I just wouldn’t risk an infection in the tank from a half dead coral. Usually things like zoas are pretty tough in shipping.

 

[Dburr1014]

Oh no, not again!

Thread 'ASD 3 Day Shipping Delay' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/asd-3-day-shipping-delay.1058119/

 

[Reefer Matt]

Would UPS delay a shipment (to investigate or something?) if the bags leaked and the box is all wet?

If the box is wet, the shipper didn’t package well, imo. That could be a reason for delay if the label was damaged, etc.

 

[Gribbles]

Oh no, not again!

Thread 'ASD 3 Day Shipping Delay' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/asd-3-day-shipping-delay.1058119/

Yep I'm in that thread a little bit I was having an awful day (and frankly, months), so I was a little on edge. Newborns > no sleep > cranky :/

 

[Cell]

I’d inspect them and see. I just wouldn’t risk an infection in the tank from a half dead coral. Usually things like zoas are pretty tough in shipping.

Other than BJD, what sort of infection would you be concerned about?

 

[Reefer Matt]

Other than BJD, what sort of infection would you be concerned about?

Pretty much a bacterial infection like that. Dipping a coral in that condition would be tricky too, as it might finish it off from stress.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

For the clear bags, I’d fill a clear container with tank water and put each frag in to inspect under a light. If they look alive, I’d give them a shot at life.

Even the brown bags, I’d open outside for closure purposes. Make sure they are totally gone.

-Matt

 

[Gribbles]

Other than BJD, what sort of infection would you be concerned about?

I don't know, that is why I'm here asking

 

[Gribbles]

Dipped in Reef Primer and put them on a frag rack in a spot that should get only about 30 par and med/low flow. Fingers crossed!

 

[UMALUM]

It's not your job to try and save anything in decline. Seems asd has had a major malfunction as of late and simply can't blame it all on the carrier. After reading at least a half dozen of these in the last week it's seems their very reluctant to respond to these threads but can't hide once a vendor feedback is created.

 

[AquaSD]

We'll get back with you soon to help out with this issue.

 

[AquaSD]

It's not your job to try and save anything in decline. Seems asd has had a major malfunction as of late and simply can't blame it all on the carrier. After reading at least a half dozen of these in the last week it's seems their very reluctant to respond to these threads but can't hide once a vendor feedback is created.

So we're to be blamed for UPS's plane not taking off on time?

 

[UMALUM]

So we're to be blamed for UPS's plane not taking off on time?

Did the plane not taking off on time make the box wet?
We're you the one that contracted the carrier to perform a service?

 

[RoanokeReef]

So we're to be blamed for UPS's plane not taking off on time?

Seems you guys have had a lot of trouble with on time deliveries lately. Is switching to FedEx until UPS gets their act together not an option? Or is this already an option on your site?

 

[AquaSD]

Seems you guys have had a lot of trouble with on time deliveries lately. Is switching to FedEx until UPS gets their act together not an option? Or is this already an option on your site?

Just this past week there were issues with the planes that caused a lot of delays. Normally UPS is pretty spot on. We've tried Fedex in the past for a few years, but doing the numbers, they seem to have more delays (during that time period) than UPS. That's why we went with UPS. This is not normal for UPS though.