Shipped coral survival rates

[kireek]

In your experience which corals are the least tolerant of shipping? I have found that millapora and corallimorphs tend to arrive in less than perfect condition.What are some ways to minimize stress when shipping these coral varieties?It would be helpful to compare the various packing methods such as rigid containers and floating styrofoam blocks.


* Please keep comments informative.Do not mention the names of sellers or companies,thanks!*

 

[moulton712]

When I ship expensive frags I put the frag in a small bags. Then I put that in a huge bag of water that fills up the cooler. I do this to help stabilize the temp. Yes the package ways more, but there are ways to cheat the system.

 

[Shep]

Honestly I have gotten acans, zoas, brain corals and more and fingers crossed never had a problem but acans always seem to get of the shipping stress the fastest.

 

[Reeferdude56]

When ever i get in new acans takes about a week for them to get fully expanded, but the plates that i get in come completely extended, with there polyps out, in the bag.

 

[Triggreef]

Corals in general seem to be quite tolerant of shipping unless they are packed really bad or heat/cold packs forgotten etc. I buy from many online vendors and seldom have issues with coral. Fish are a bit more hit/miss.

I got a bag labeled with the type of zoa and nothing in the bag except water once, does that count as DOA? lol. One guess as to which "2go" place that was from...

 

[kireek]

When I ship expensive frags I put the frag in a small bags. Then I put that in a huge bag of water that fills up the cooler. I do this to help stabilize the temp. Yes the package ways more, but there are ways to cheat the system.

I don't believe I have seen this method used before.It may be a good way to send brittle corals like birds nest or enchinata chalice.

Honestly I have gotten acans, zoas, brain corals and more and fingers crossed never had a problem but acans always seem to get of the shipping stress the fastest.

I agree most of the time corals tolerate shipping just fine.Acans will recover fast for me as well, provided they are not fresh cuts.

When ever i get in new acans takes about a week for them to get fully expanded, but the plates that i get in come completely extended, with there polyps out, in the bag.

It's always nice to see polyp extension in the bag.If by plates you mean Fungia,they have always arrived well for me.Generally speaking, most SPS I receive do okay.Occasionally I have seen faded coloration or complete loss,even with proper packaging.

Corals in general seem to be quite tolerant of shipping unless they are packed really bad or heat/cold packs forgotten etc. I buy from many online vendors and seldom have issues with coral. Fish are a bit more hit/miss.

I got a bag labeled with the type of zoa and nothing in the bag except water once, does that count as DOA?

Once again I agree.I am curious if all the DOA I have received are primary random occurrences. Or is there is a measurable probability with certain corals.Now shipping fish would be another good topic!

 

[tealgirl]

Honestly, my experience is any coral will survive as long it was shipped properly and was from a good stock to begin with. Acans are usually hardy, but I have had one dealer that it is 50/50 no matter what you order if it will survive or even arrive alive (gave them several chances too).

I ordered from Cherry Corals, and ALL my corals survived. Heck a few of them were even showing their colors in the bag (utter chaos was open and bright in the bag).

 

[kireek]

* Friendly reminder,please do not mention names,partial names or masked names in this thread.Thank you!*

I voted for corallimorphs because I have personally received at least three dead on arrival.These were all packaged properly and shipped by reputable companies.If I was going to ship these corals I would add extra water and bag them up last.