RFA arrival, thoughts?

[therremans]

I purchased my first RFA from Live Aquaria. I work from home so was able to receive the order as delivered. I was nervous because the box seemed soaked but it appears to be an unrelated external oil spill of some kind, smells like tanning lotion.

The specimen bag water was a bit cloudy and the water was low at around 63 degrees. It seems it expelled in the bag, is this common? They unfortunately packed it with a cold pack. My other box was a cultivated mushroom with a warm pack and it was a perfect 76 degrees.

I did not dip the nem in anything. I just acclimated it in a bowl over 15 minutes or so and until the water was up to 75.

After placing it on the sand bed and tucking it behind a rock shield to prevent flow.. it hasn’t really bounced back and it’s been about 12 hours.. still early. But it has expelled its guts out and has clouded my tank water a bit. It also keeps flipping itself upside down. It’s not happy and I’m afraid it could be dying.

20g
Calcium: 460
Alk: 8.5
Mg: 1400
Nitrates: 15
Phosphate: .06
pH: 8.3/8.4

I’m going to upload photos and get any opinions or questions. Thanks!

 

[Lavey29]

I have 5 of them and I would say yours doesn't look good. Try to put it in low flow low light and see if it survives. They are pretty hardy creatures.

 

[Jekyl]

Should have temp acclimated before opening thr bag. Opening the bag can cause an ammonia spike. Best to float the bag and transfer to good water once temp acclimated.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Mine came in almost the same way. Cold and puffy. Mine is fine now and slowly moving from the shadows of the rocks into the light.

I thought mine was a goner too.

 

[therremans]

Mine came in almost the same way. Cold and puffy. Mine is fine now and slowly moving from the shadows of the rocks into the light.

I thought mine was a goner too.

Okay, I’m going to keep the par low, maybe just run blue lights. I tried to place it in a lower flow area. I unplugged my wave maker powerhead before adding it. It has stayed put so far.. but started puking and turning upside down.

I’ll try to post some updates.

 

[therremans]

It passed away last night.

 

[Lavey29]

It passed away last night.

Sorry for your loss but you did your best to help

 

[Feet Pixel]

Should have temp acclimated before opening thr bag. Opening the bag can cause an ammonia spike. Best to float the bag and transfer to good water once temp acclimated.

Can you explain the science behind that? I had no idea

 

[jkcoral]

It passed away last night.

Ah man, I’m sorry. That is such a bummer :/

The last picture you posted was bad news. I really hope you contact the vendor and file a complaint about this. The idea that a RFA (or anything else) would arrive at ~60 degrees is completely mind boggling to me.

Ive lost one RFA in shipping out of the hundreds I’ve had shipped to me. It arrived in the same condition as yours, and similarly arrived in incredibly cold water thanks to FedEx and their infamous Memphis hub holding it in a freezing warehouse for a few days. RFAs are resilient and can take a beating. Only things I’ve seen kill a RFA are a broken foot, a peppermint shrimp, or extended time in cold water.

If you are interested in RFAs, I’d be happy to point you in the direction of the two places I get mine from (way cheaper and never had a problem like this).

 

[therremans]

Ah man, I’m sorry. That is such a bummer :/

The last picture you posted was bad news. I really hope you contact the vendor and file a complaint about this. The idea that a RFA (or anything else) would arrive at ~60 degrees is completely mind boggling to me.

Ive lost one RFA in shipping out of the hundreds I’ve had shipped to me. It arrived in the same condition as yours, and similarly arrived in incredibly cold water thanks to FedEx and their infamous Memphis hub holding it in a freezing warehouse for a few days. RFAs are resilient and can take a beating. Only things I’ve seen kill a RFA are a broken foot, a peppermint shrimp, or extended time in cold water.

If you are interested in RFAs, I’d be happy to point you in the direction of the two places I get mine from (way cheaper and never had a problem like this).

Yes it is. What a bummer and waste of a larger beautiful one. Although I am new to these, my initial thought when I saw it in the bag was… “this isn’t good”. My second RFA arrived today and looks normal. It’s a little smaller but definitely doesn’t have that enlarged mouth and the temp seemed fine. The water was only slightly cloudy but nothing like the first.

A combination of weather, FedEx shipping methods, packing method, using those cold packs, the box was also covered in some oil so maybe someone cleaned it and was rough with it as well, who knows. All that was the cause and probable demise of it. The cold water temp though, ultimately. Once placed back in the aquarium, I don’t think it stood a chance. It went nearly completely inside out and deflated. I let it rest for awhile in a bowl to be 100% it was gone, and it was. I didn’t feel the need to share the photo.

Unfortunately LiveAquaria doesn’t allow the claim to contain any further information beyond the basic order details and one photo. That’s it. I’d like to help them out and describe with some detail.

My order today has one DOA scarlet red crab. Everything else looked good and acclimated well. I know about the floating bag technique and I applied it to use today. I didn’t on the anemone because I think I just reacted and wanted to get it out of that cloudy cold water asap.

DM me the link and maybe I’ll get more from that vendor. Thanks.

 

[Jedi1199]

Yes it is. What a bummer and waste of a larger beautiful one. Although I am new to these, my initial thought when I saw it in the bag was… “this isn’t good”. My second RFA arrived today and looks normal. It’s a little smaller but definitely doesn’t have that enlarged mouth and the temp seemed fine. The water was only slightly cloudy but nothing like the first.

A combination of weather, FedEx shipping methods, packing method, using those cold packs, the box was also covered in some oil so maybe someone cleaned it and was rough with it as well, who knows. All that was the cause and probable demise of it. The cold water temp though, ultimately. Once placed back in the aquarium, I don’t think it stood a chance. It went nearly completely inside out and deflated. I let it rest for awhile in a bowl to be 100% it was gone, and it was. I didn’t feel the need to share the photo.

Unfortunately LiveAquaria doesn’t allow the claim to contain any further information beyond the basic order details and one photo. That’s it. I’d like to help them out and describe with some detail.

My order today has one DOA scarlet red crab. Everything else looked good and acclimated well. I know about the floating bag technique and I applied it to use today. I didn’t on the anemone because I think I just reacted and wanted to get it out of that cloudy cold water asap.

DM me the link and maybe I’ll get more from that vendor. Thanks.

If you are really into RFA's, Live Aquaria is not where I would start... I have read a LOT of bad reviews about them.

I have 7 RFA's in my tank right now. I got most of them from RipTide Aquaculture on one of their live sales. Everything I have gotten from them has arrived well packaged and healthy.

 

[Jekyl]

Can you explain the science behind that? I had no idea

@Randy Holmes-Farley would be better than I. Something that once ph rises due to fresh air getting into the bag it will also cause ammonia to spike.

 

[David_CO]

might be worth driving up to elite reef at I-25 and US-36. they had a couple varieties of RFA's when in was in there a week or so ago.

 

[ying yang]

Can you explain the science behind that? I had no idea

Ammonia in shipping bags

I am curious if anyone besides myself has ever checked the ammonia in shipping bags for fish. Am passionate about them as you all are, and decided to check (never did before). I knew they came from a. Great place, packing was perfect, temp was 80.9. They shipped overnight. Ammonia is 3.0-4 in...

www.reef2reef.com

Here one thread explaining it,but there's lots if threads if ask Google,alot bring you back to r2r.

I'm no expert but have read no need to aclimitise corals as they self regulate/aclimitise themselves or something like this,so just temp acclimate is all that needed then dip the coral in some coral dip for pests.but don't quote me on this ^_^

But if ph rises in the bag ( say due to coral expelling waste,and rots producing amnonia) then c02 gets expelled and amnonia now toxic I do not know as will only buy fish and corals from a lfs and have a 20 minutes -1 hour ride home in car as want to see what im buying and if any postal delays,I don't like the idea of dead animals arriving at my door so personally won't do it .
But Google has the answers that you need

 

[therremans]

When you receive bad product from LiveAquaria, they only refund you with store credit. Although I don’t want to order from this company again…I was stuck with store credit that I wanted to use from the RFA and a crab. So I made another $180 order (free shipping) and this new RFA arrived in normal condition.. But the next day my tiger snapping/pistol shrimp arrived not looking healthy at all. The scarlet skunk shrimp that it shipped with seems fine. (this shipment just had the two shrimps..) Tiger shrimp has been slowly dying and is now dead, flushed.. (by the way, my first order contained one of these tiger shrimps and he is doing great.)

So now here’s round two of more store credit. I would avoid LiveAquaria if I were you. It seems a bit risky and I don’t want the guilt of dead life on my hands due to my online shopping.. I just think it was a poor health specimen, a red scarlet crab also arrived dead from my first order when the other 4 are fine.

They like to break up an order into multiple shipments from various locations. My LFS let me down recently with some quality issues in their tanks.. so I made a Memorial Day sale order. Not worth it!

For LiveAquaria, it’s a win win situation, most people (like me) will spend that $179 to get free shipping and handling but probably end up with poor product and more credit. Maybe I can spend this next credit on food. I have received 2 shipments from my second order and the third hasn’t shipped, it could get better or worse.