Has LA lost its ju ju?

[DrewBrees713]

I received my order today and am a bit disspapointed to say the least. One fish was DOA, another one has a shruken belly and hang out in the top corner of the tank, prolly not gonna make it, and one has a pretty bad case of rip fins. It hought they QT all their stocks? A coral that came with what looks like to be STN.

All of the bags were deflated upon arrival i already contacted them but probably going have to call them again. Not trying to call them out or anything but they used to be top notch. Has their games slipped recently?

 

[reeferfoxx]

They are probably going through a "fall rush" right now. Not uncommon to see complaints this time of year. I remember myself having issues this time last year or the year before. Blue zoo was my back up.

 

[JsL]

Regular LA or Diver's Den livestock?

 

[mattzang]

sorry for your loss dude

I just got my first ever shipment from liveaquaria today too. Luckily everything was looking good in mine. It was interesting how differently things were packed since I ordered 3 fish one each from DD in Wisconsin, ORA in Florida, and liveaquaria in LA. I'm only about an hour east of LA so that one seemed to be the least packed, ORA packed the heck out of that fish. It's the tiniest clownfish ever, but had a massive bag as well as a large bag around that. the DD one was also quite nicely packed, all 3 fish looking ok, the wrasse from LA seems only moderately ok. I've never had a heliocheres wrasse before so I have no idea if her behavior is the norm, but she looks healthy no spots or torn fins.

I will say I was disappointed that I sent an email to liveaquaria yesterday asking what salinity they'd be shipping each fish in and just got a stock answer with a link to:

https://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=28

• Specific Gravity 1.021 - 1.025

so anywhere in between 21 to 25? might as well just ignore the email

my DD fish came in at .025, LA at .019, and ORA was .022

 

[DrewBrees713]

Its regular LA. Cant afford DD like you ballers

I check the salinity and all the bag were about .20-21
The inner bags for the corals were complelty drained , the outter ones for both corals and fish were significantly deflated. Is this common practice for them?

 

[reeferfoxx]

Its regular LA. Cant afford DD like you ballers

I check the salinity and all the bag were about .20-21
The inner bags for the corals were complelty drained , the outter ones for both corals and fish were significantly deflated. Is this common practice for them?

No.

 

[Fishfinder]

Its normal to see low salinity from LA. Thats common with a lot of stores, just prepare for it.
LA does not quarantine their fish. DD has a Qt process
I have ordered a lot from LA and DD. It has not been my experience to receive DOA and deflated bags. Ive always gotten nice shipments

 

[Mical]

I rec'd two orders from them today, one from ORA (Florida) and one from Cal, both in excellent condition. All fish and shrimp 100% - your situation not typical of LA. Let them know they'll take care of issues.

 

[leahfiish]

It's actually usually okay for bags to be a bit deflated when shipping. If there's too much air the bags could pop when shipping via air. So deflated bags doesn't necessarily mean poor packaging, I feel that is a common misconception.

 

[Dr.Tankenstein]

I have been overwhelmingly disappointed in them recently as well. Just got back into the hobby, used them a long time ago. Placed an order with them a few weeks ago that was shipping from two of their locations to my place. One order arrived and the shrimp was dead, then I waited a week for the next one. Finally called in to hear that the order hadn't been processed due to a 'processing error' and that they were shipping it that night, basically forcing me to receive the package on a day I really couldn't. Lo and behold when the fish gets there, it's dead. Pretty unreal.

 

[DrewBrees713]

I thought LA has a QT procedure in placed hence their 14 guarantee?

Idk about a bit deflated all the bags came in pretty low on oxygen. I ordered once before and that was right on the money. This time not so much. Sorry about your loss Doc!

 

[Firemanreefkeeper]

I hate to rip on companies too but I've had 4 orders from LA over the past 8 months and the only thing I have in my tank from them is a sand sifting star. 1 DOA and 3 QT deaths. And much like you DR, they sent me my star on a delay, sending me an email saying it's on the way ready or not. I wasn't and had to call off of work to receive it

 

[Erica-Renee]

Go inside of a petco store and you will know why. I Was so afraid this was going to happen

 

[maevepotter]

Go inside of a petco store and you will know why. I Was so afraid this was going to happen

Explain? Do they get their stock from la?

 

[DougBouma]

Just driving into Los Angeles to get fish is a mess.

 

[Firemanreefkeeper]

Petco owns LA

 

[seaplane]

LA = Petco, enough said.

 

[jschultzbass]

Ok, a lot of not very specific info here so far. Yes, petco bought LA but didn't really change a thing. I was disappointed when I heard this but so far it's ok. Petco actually bought Drs. Foster and Smith online pet supply store which LA is/was a part of and reason they bought it was because it had a better online following and presence then their own website. Same reason Petsmart bought Chewy.com. LA has two sections, DD out of THEIR facility in Wisconsin which they do QT but it's not a full, completely disease free QT, it's more a QT light so they can get them eating and weed out more of the weak ones. You still need to QT from DD. DD packs their stuff like crazy because it comes from their facility and they have complete control.

LA stock items are drop shipped from Quality Marine in Cali. A lot of people use Quality Marine as a wholesaler. They are generally considered the best wholesaler in the US but LA doesn't have control of QMs facility. Either way you need to QT and the warranty is the same. They'll refund you no problem with a death so you're good to go no matter what you use but DD will have a higher survival rate.

 

[DougBouma]

LA as in Los Angeles?

 

[Fishfinder]

Ok, a lot of not very specific info here so far. Yes, petco bought LA but didn't really change a thing. I was disappointed when I heard this but so far it's ok. Petco actually bought Drs. Foster and Smith online pet supply store which LA is/was a part of and reason they bought it was because it had a better online following and presence then their own website. Same reason Petsmart bought Chewy.com. LA has two sections, DD out of THEIR facility in Wisconsin which they do QT but it's not a full, completely disease free QT, it's more a QT light so they can get them eating and weed out more of the weak ones. You still need to QT from DD. DD packs their stuff like crazy because it comes from their facility and they have complete control.

LA stock items are drop shipped from Quality Marine in Cali. A lot of people use Quality Marine as a wholesaler. They are generally considered the best wholesaler in the US but LA doesn't have control of QMs facility. Either way you need to QT and the warranty is the same. They'll refund you no problem with a death so you're good to go no matter what you use but DD will have a higher survival rate.

Absolutely correct, my success rate with DD is great. Never had one of those fish not eat