Getting discouraged.

rackyrane

Member
I am getting somewhat discouraged with corals.
I have bought several zoo frags online only to have them arrive basically dead. The polyps on alot of them are small, shriveled and sometimes already brown. I have tried to get some of the prettier morphs and they arrive non-viable. Since I have bought mostly from other reefers, have not ever gotten a refund or more frags.
I am about ready to give up on trying to find any neat corals for my tank online. My LFS's carry very few zoos and when they do get in something nice, the price is outrageous. I envy you guys in areas where the LFS gets in nice stuff at decent prices. We don't get that here.
Any advice? Should I just give up and stay with what I have now? TIA.
 

ukcats

Member
Find locals... usually they sell Zoos for like 5 bucks per frag. They grow so fast in my tank I just give them away!
 

puffer32

Active Member
Originally Posted by jonthefishguy
what are your parimeters, it is hard to believe that nearly all you get, die. Something is amiss
He said they arrive almost dead, so its not his tank thats the problem.
Why don't you buy from online stores with gurantees, that way if they arrive dead, you can get a refund?
 

jonthefishguy

Active Member
Just a bit of info for future purchases. While many companies do have guarantees, they refund it on your NEXT purchase and many do not return shipping. So be aware that if you do order from an online sight, may will just credit your acount and add it at checkout.
 

rackyrane

Member
Yes, they are arriving looking bad. If they arrive ok, just closed, they have been doing great in my tank. Here are my last parameters anyway:
Calcium745 (a bit high)ph 8.2Trites 0Trates ~10 (this is the lowest my test kit goes), NH3 0 Alk 4dKh 11.2 SpGr 1.023.
Everything is fairly ok. The calcium has come down to 600. Recently changed salts because of the variable calcium levels I was getting.
Don't think it's my tank because everything in there is doing very well. The only things that have died have been a coral that was knocked off of its perch by one of my wrecking crew (aka clean up crew) that I did not see. Found its skeleton on one of my tank cleaning days.
Will probably try the online stores as suggested with the caveat that jonthefishguy mentioned. I really would like to get some of the more exotic zoos, but now I am kind of scared. I don't want to have anything die on me. Kind of bugs, you know?
 

cjworkman

Member
I see that you are in NM. I would suggest not buying any Corals in the summer.
Try sticking to fall and spring when the outdoor temps are around natural tank temps. (72-82) degrees out.
If you wait to have items shipped only during times where shipping will be much more friendly, you'll get healthier corals and fish.
 

rackyrane

Member
Hmmm, hadn't really thought about that. That's a great suggestion. Being a newbie, I supposed that the shippers kept stuff at decent temps. I guess that's wrong. Thanks everyone. I feel somewhat better. I was bummed because I just bought $180 worth of zoos from someone and only two polyps have made it.
 
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