Smelly Water, Dead Frag... What happened?

Stray32 · Mar 10, 2010

I bought a couple of SPS frags and received them yesterday. Everything was very well packed and the water temp was perfect. Two of the frags looked great when they arrived, full polyp extension in the containers even!! When I opened the third frag, I noticed a foul odor in the water, and there was a dead spot on one of the branches. I clipped off the branch, acclimated slowly, then added it to my tank. Less than 4 hours later, the frag was completely dead, white. I have never had a frag die so quickly before, even if it arrives in bad shape. I am not posting this because I am upset, I have worked out a resolution with the seller, I am more curious as to what you think happened?

They were WYSIWYG frags, all looked great in the pics, all shipped exactly the same way, and I am assuming from the same tank. Any ideas what could have happened?

Troylee · Mar 10, 2010

i have been at the lfs when there shipments arrive and when they open some bags whoa run for the hills man it's the most awfull smell ever but the frags look good still....i think it depends on the coral... i think it was a dendro, that smelled like a turbo snail died in the bag it was horrible but others had no smell at all...kinda wierd....as to why it died it could very well be a species that is delicate and dont take shipping well...not really sure on that part...

Mariner · Mar 10, 2010

The dead spot may have been on the frag to begin with, or may have developed in handling/shipping. Trimming it sounds like a reasonable thing to do, but may actually have precipitated the RTN event -- just too much stress for this particular piece to handle at once -- handling>shipping>trimming>acclimating>>>>croaking!
Mariner