Shipping for dummies. "Advice"

Bernard · Nov 17, 2016

So I sell and trade on my local forum from time to time but have never shipped. I know people don't usually ship in extreme heat of cold and seem most ship overnight. So my questions are:
Does all coral have to be overnight shipped?
Best packaging to use when shipping?
What to look for on DOA arivial?

Salty1962 · Nov 17, 2016

Salty1962 · Nov 17, 2016

1. You need to ship sensitive livestock overnight to assure they arrive alive. Oxygen depletion and mucus build up can kill livestock quickly.
2. You need to ship in something that is going to protect the livestock from shipping and hold the correct temperature range. Typically a styrofoam container. Some people take sheets of insulating material, foil layered styrofoam. to make a cooler like compartment with. Depending on the weather, you'd put in a heat or cold pack.
3. DOA is DOA. They should provide you with a picture of the DOA livestock in the bag you shipped in within a specified time. Usually 1 hour.
Hope this helps!

Bernard · Nov 17, 2016

Help a lot. The doa thing I'm still not sure on cause I've not actually seen anything dead in the bag. Will a dead coral be pretty obvious?

NCreefguy · Nov 18, 2016

Bernard said:
Help a lot. The doa thing I'm still not sure on cause I've not actually seen anything dead in the bag. Will a dead coral be pretty obvious?

Different ways to tell like.....all of the flesh may be separated from the skeleton or it may be browned out or bleached/whited out.Soft corals may have turned to just a bag of mush and smell like 8 cans of shark doodie.

Might be a good idea to stop by your lfs and ask if you can watch them box something live up for shipment or get with a forum member that lives close to you that ships and watch them. After that,try to ship a small test package to someone you know so they can give you the feedback on how it arrived.