Need a little advice please

[dakotasreef]

I think he is trying to scam you. It is hard to tell in some of the pictures, but it looks like most of them still have some color. So that would indicate to me that some of them are still alive. In an established and stable system that should be no big deal. If you look at those pictures, it seems like that is a brand new tank. No coraline growth on the rockwork or glass, and you can see the tiny crustaceans on the glass so it has not been cleaned off. Even the silicone in the corner is spotless.

I would call him up and get his water perameters. That way he has to answer on the spot and can not try copy some answers off of the net. I am willing to bet that this is a brand new tank and is still cycling.

 

[Joezreef]

email I just received: wow wouldnt you think that if you received bad coral you wouln"t put it in the tank!

Joe. I want all of my money back. The other corrals in my tank are demonstrating significant stress because of your Coral's toxin's, which means's I could lose them also. I have indicated in an earlier email to you that some of the coral's besides being dead were also broken. Did you insure these? There is a buyer and a seller in this transaction, Do you think the buyer takes all the risk, or "lost."? To restate again to you, I have spent 840.00 and have dead corals that you shipped to me, in addition now my original coral's are deomonstrating significant stress. Nabil

 

[Surf&turf]

I think he is trying to scam you. It is hard to tell in some of the pictures, but it looks like most of them still have some color. So that would indicate to me that some of them are still alive. In an established and stable system that should be no big deal. If you look at those pictures, it seems like that is a brand new tank. No coraline growth on the rockwork or glass, and you can see the tiny crustaceans on the glass so it has not been cleaned off. Even the silicone in the corner is spotless.

I would call him up and get his water perameters. That way he has to answer on the spot and can not try copy some answers off of the net. I am willing to bet that this is a brand new tank and is still cycling.

Good catch dakota, the hermits have more coraline growing on them than the liverock or glass does.

 

[Joezreef]

I think he is trying to scam you. It is hard to tell in some of the pictures, but it looks like most of them still have some color. So that would indicate to me that some of them are still alive. In an established and stable system that should be no big deal. If you look at those pictures, it seems like that is a brand new tank. No coraline growth on the rockwork or glass, and you can see the tiny crustaceans on the glass so it has not been cleaned off. Even the silicone in the corner is spotless.

I would call him up and get his water perameters. That way he has to answer on the spot and can not try copy some answers off of the net. I am willing to bet that this is a brand new tank and is still cycling.

thanks the tank looks like a new tank you are right & blasted with 10k light

 

[Joezreef]

email I sent him!
I absolutely will not refund all your money! Im trying to get this resolved the right way by asking question on my forums as to how much I should refund...
you said the water was still warm right?
you said the coral was alive (no bleaching sps)?
you said I packaged them good and no leakes?
you did add them to your tank without taking pictures first right?
they were stressed but not dead when you put them in your WATER right?
I paid an extra $50 to get them to you firstclass & did not attempt to ask for that money back!
I also sent you high dollar SPS Coral that I have documented the same day were 110% healthy when they were in my system after 4 years! I apologize if this is your first SPS experience but stressed sps need to be acclimated a lot different than lps.
80% of the time when shipping a bigger sps there can be breakage all you have to do is put a dap of superglue gel and attach it back and in a few weeks it will recover and attach itself back to the mother colony! It sounds like you have your mind set on getting your money back, but before you do look into proper acclimation of sps coral...and yes this time I may be getting rude considering you won't give me a chance to do a little investigating first! I have shipped corals several times with 0-0 issues!
Joe

 

[Gazog]

Joe, I feel for you as I have been in your shoes before. I can also feel for the buyer because I am sure we have all been where they are too.

I honestly feel you made several mistakes and hopefully you will take some constructive criticism. But I do not feel what you did means that you should in anyway be held responsible for what has happened to those corals or that you should have to refund any part of the money that he paid!

One, you did not have an explained and understood "Arrive Alive" Guarantee, which stated that once the coral the coral arrived they they (the customer) has one hours to contact you with any problems with pictures. If these are not received within that hour time frame then you have no further responsibility. Once these corals are in you tank for several hours you have to be out of your mind to cnatact someone and tell them that they are dying!

Second, you did not have an explained and understood specific acclimation procedure? Although I would not say that this was what happened because there have been so many times where I have had to take newly arrived corals out of the bags and unceremoniously just dump them in the tank, Now this is not something that I would recommend doing but when they come in and you can tell that if left in the bag for one more minute that will die you have to do some extreme things. And to be completely honest with you I can pretty much count on one hand the corals that I have lost doing this over the years.

Third, you did not have an explained and understood specific Dipping procedure? I would have to say looking at those corals that you are right in saying that he must have dipped them in a solution that was to strong or possibly that they were dipped in a solution that contained fresh water. While dipping in fresh water with healthy corals other than SPS can and sometimes is OK, dipping a coral especially and SPS coral that has been stressed due to shipping is a sure Death Sentence!

And believe me I am not saying that he did anything correct, in fact I am still trying to understand why he would take strange corals and put them in what looks like his display tank with other established corals and I quote "which is also causing a lot of stress to my other, healthy corals." hasn't he heard of Monti eating Nudis or Red Bugs both of which dipping is like p1$$ing in the wind!

I am also trying to understand why he said " I bought some reef dip but that has not stopped the flesh from coming off the corals" which leads me to believe he did not dip the corals when he got them but only as an after thought in hopes of stopping the RTN. Which in its self is a mistake because that means he had to handle corals that were already extremely stressed again which most likely led to even more death!

Any coral that is shipped is going to release chemicals into the water and of course its going to smell, that is a given. But just because the water smelled does not mean the that coral is dying, it is normal! And to put these corals in a tank with healthy corals is extremely irresponsible and if he looses his other "healthy corals" he has no one to blame but himself.

So all in all I would tell him that as far as your concerned it is his fault that this has happened, and that your not sending him anything. You might offer to send him some small frags (which in my experience do so much better that whole colonies) in replacement and if he refuses then your done with him

 

[inactive]

Sounds like someone is trying to screw you over Joe. Since he did not contact you an hour after the package arrived, and then sent stuff 3 hours later.. I would not care.

Why? If this was as important to the buyer as they are making it now, they would have been taking photos of the box opening, and contacted you within 10 minutes of opening the box. 3 hours? What did they do... take a nap and think about what they were going to say?

I mean, with this much cash.. and being such a delicate matter, 99.9% of people would have been on top of this much better...as a buyer.

Flip a coin... heads you win, tails they lose. Follow the rules as a buyer!

 

[Joezreef]

I even tried to call him with no answer & hes yet to call me...I was just checking in to see how things were doing! I tried!

 

[ashton]

I think you are doing the right thing Joe and this guy is being unreasonable. I think he made this purchase without having any prior knowledge of purchasing SPS and how to proper acclimate his new corals. First they should definitely be down towards the bottom of his tank especially if there are issues with bleaching and tissue loss. From what I could see from the pics he took it definitely does look to be a newly set up tank and the colonies pictured have lost some color but that is expected and they certainly werent dead.

 

[Joezreef]

Yeah I have got tons of shipments in the mail in the last 4 years...If I knew a coral was dying I would take pics of it & cut the dead off and put the good tissue on the bottom...he told me there were no bleaching when he put it in his tank...even a stressed coral is ok if properly acclimated!

 

[Smartfish]

When I receive corals they always smell. This to me says that they are still alive. It also seems like the pictures sent to you do not have any corlas other than the hammer that I can see. Ask for a full tank shot. I agree with everyone so far it seems like it is the buyers own fault for trying to put in corals that he is not familiar with. I do not see any fish or coraline other than the sps it seems pretty barren.
If it were me I would not refund anything, and I am pretty fair. But this guys attitude is enough for me to say forget it. He has not been reefing for long.

 

[gilmour01]

i think dakota nailed it! that tank looks pretty new to me, that or his params are way off. i cant recall the last time i lost an sps frag, and my acclimation practices can be substandard sometimes. if i spent $850 on corals, i would have taken photos before i even opened the bag if i thought there was a problem. the fact that all the frags are having issues sets off alarm bells for me. i feel for you, cause its a tough spot to be in.

 

[Joezreef]

YEP BUT the hardest part is losing corals that I have had for a long time...before I sell anymore sps I will do some research on were they are going!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Polyp extension???

 

[650-IS350]

If I was a buyer and noticed that something was wrong with the shipments, I would contact and take pics right away or ASAP when available. It's happened to me before that when Zs and Ps get sent to me, they aren't as healthy looking but I document that and take pics. Also I keep in good contact with the seller to let them know of what's going on and send them pics ASAP.

And if this person has been buying LPS online before then they should know the drill in regards to shipping and live arrival/guarantees and limitations.

 

[inactive]

100% :)

 

[Joezreef]

THANKS I feel much better about the whole situation!

 

[gilmour01]

if this was his first sps experience, maybe he should have bought a small frag or 2 to see how things went instead of dropping almost $900. best to test the water with a toe.

 

[rynek23]

I feel as though you handled everything very well. By shipping them and giving him a tracking number I feel as tho your hands are clear. As far as the coral smelling funny most boxes that have been used to ship fish or corals smell bad no matter what you do. At the shop we reuse all of our styros for customers taking stuff home in and they stink no matter what ha. Sounds to me like a scam you handled it well I run into stuff like this from time to time.

 

[dakotasreef]

best to test the water with a toe.

Some people just like diving in head first. And you know what? Sometimes you can get hurt.

Something I tell people before they want to buy something, "Read, Read, Read and when you think you have it, read some more."