Unboxing BTAs from Divers Den

[ClownWrangler]

I just received two BTAs from Divers Den (Live Aquaria). I met the FEDEX guy at the door, but the water temp in the bags was 58F. I let the bags stabilize to room temperature before floating. I mached the water parameters in a bin and finished acclimating them to it. Ones not looking so good. The other is just a little stressed. Do they normally look like this after shipping?

 

[laup18]

I just received two BTAs from Divers Den (Live Aquaria). I met the FEDEX guy at the door, but the water temp in the bags was 58F. I let the bags stabilize to room temperature before floating. I mached the water parameters in a bin and finished acclimating them to it. Ones not looking so good. The other is just a little stressed. Do they normally look like this after shipping?

Yes, mine from Live aquaria as well looks terrible right out the box, mouth open and everything. I did the normal acclimation for 2 hours and to the main display... After 3 to 4 days my BTA was looking way much better. After a hole month I can say she is a pretty happy BTA. Be patient and pay close attention for the next couple of days. How many days since you get yours, I bet the low temp was stressful for the anemone.

 

[Cell]

Every BTA I have been shipped has been nice and healthy looking in the bag.

 

[ClownWrangler]

Yes, mine from Live aquaria as well looks terrible right out the box, mouth open and everything. I did the normal acclimation for 2 hours and to the main display... After 3 to 4 days my BTA was looking way much better. After a hole month I can say she is a pretty happy BTA. Be patient and pay close attention for the next couple of days. How many days since you get yours, I bet the low temp was stressful for the anemone.

They came at around 11AM today. There were 3 heat packs taped to the lid that are still warm. I think there was too much peanut insulation between the bags at the bottom of the box and the heat packs.

 

[James M]

Never ordered bubble tips form LA but I’ve had nems get stuck in shipment for 3 days and they looked better than those.
I don’t think they were in great health to begin with

 

[MoMoTheMonster]

I hope your nem from DD turns out better than mine. It was pretty much dead on arrival but I had no idea. Still acclimated it and tried - it was sad and gross. Ended up pulling it and making a claim on it within a few hours because it got worse fast!!

Best of luck!! Keep us posted!

 

[laup18]

***Patience, they may look terrible but they will come back. Patience is key, unless it's already decomposing it self***

 

[ClownWrangler]

I hope your nem from DD turns out better than mine. It was pretty much dead on arrival but I had no idea. Still acclimated it and tried - it was sad and gross. Ended up pulling it and making a claim on it within a few hours because it got worse fast!!

Best of luck!! Keep us posted!

I looked up the guarantee and I have 7 days, so I'll give them time. It’s the sellers who insist on claims within hours that I don’t like to deal with. I think the big one will make it, but the little one is inside out, which is a really bad sign. Deflating is normal, but inside out is death more often than not.

 

[MoMoTheMonster]

I looked up the guarantee and I have 7 days, so I'll give them time. It’s the sellers who insist on claims within hours that I don’t like to deal with. I think the big one will make it, but the little one is inside out, which is a really bad sign. Deflating is normal, but inside out is death more often than not.

Yeah its good they offer the guarantee! I hope they pull through!! DD has beautiful nems, I wish mine pulled through. Its a real bummer when things don't make it from shipping

 

[hds4216]

Yeah its good they offer the guarantee! I hope they pull through!! DD has beautiful nems, I wish mine pulled through. Its a real bummer when things don't make it from shipping

Too bad it changed from 14 days to 7 days

 

[ClownWrangler]

Too bad it changed from 14 days to 7 days

I guess they figure after the first week any casualties would be the fault of the buyer, water parameters ect, but that’s certainly not the case with anemones. They sometimes don’t even realize they are dead until months after their fate is sealed. Zombie anemones.

 

[laup18]

I guess they figure after the first week any casualties would be the fault of the buyer, water parameters ect, but that’s certainly not the case with anemones. They sometimes don’t even realize they are dead until months after their fate is sealed. Zombie anemones.

ClownWrangle​

How is your anemone doing today? Here is a picture of mine also from LA, in my DT since 11/24/20.

 

[ClownWrangler]

ClownWrangle​

How is your anemone doing today? Here is a picture of mine also from LA, in my DT since 11/24/20.

The little one puked out its guts. Pretty gross. It’s still firm and not melting yet though. The big one looks like its in the process of doing the same.

 

[D-Nak]

BTAs can look terrible (inverted, completely deflated, mouth gaping, etc.) and still bounce back. It's best to set up a separate QT tank so that they can be treated with antibiotics (if needed) and then observed, without fear of nuking the DT. This also allows from prompt removal of any waste that the BTA spits out.

The only way to tell for sure if a BTA is dead is to do the smell test. You'll know immediately if it is dead. On some occasions, I've had BTAs with necrotic tissue that I cut off, and they still survived. This happens when BTAs get tangled in powerheads. I had one that completely lost its oral disk and it still bounced back.

BTAs are known to look terrible when first introduced to a new tank. They oftentimes completely deflate, then take hours to as long as a few days to start to inflate again.

Hopefully your BTAs will make it! Good luck!

 

[ClownWrangler]

Yes, A healthy BTA can survive physical damage quite well, even being chopped in half with a putchers knife (don’t ask me how I know ). But one that starts deteriorating on its own is another story IMO. I think these things saw some serious cold at some point during the shipping. They were at 58F when I got them, so they were likely much colder at some point. The big one melted completely foot, disc and all, so I had to flush it. After reading your reply I decided to give the little one another chance. I rinsed off the rotting tissue and found that the foot is still firm. I also gave it a iodine dip (seachem reef dip) to deal with the remaining infected tissue. Its about the size and consistency of a piece of bubble gum stuck to the bottom of you shoe. I have good filtration, carbon and a UV sterilizer. Given the size of this one, It wont nuke my tank.

 

[ClownWrangler]

I hope your nem from DD turns out better than mine. It was pretty much dead on arrival but I had no idea. Still acclimated it and tried - it was sad and gross. Ended up pulling it and making a claim on it within a few hours because it got worse fast!!


Best of luck!! Keep us posted!

Have you heard back about your claim? Both of mine completely melted so I filed claims earlier today. They don’t issue refunds, but give you store credit. I want to buy replacements, but I have to wait for them to process the claims first.

 

[GoReefin]

Mine also looked terrible on arrival but has since made a good recovery. Like yours 3 heat packs taped to the top. The water was super cold.

 

[MoMoTheMonster]

Have you heard back about your claim? Both of mine completely melted so I filed claims earlier today. They don’t issue refunds, but give you store credit. I want to buy replacements, but I have to wait for them to process the claims first.

They are usually pretty quick. They have some beautiful dark purple BTAs right now in DD. Well at least they did last night.

 

[ClownWrangler]

I ended up getting my refund and placing another order. I received one very nice healthy BTA pictured bellow and another one that looked like it was put through a blender because someone put rocks in the bag with it. I'm not sure what that was all about. Maybe they were in a hurry and didn’t notice the rocks stuck to the anemone. All in all, I think that DD has great customer service, but FEDEX seems to be really hit or miss for some reason in my area for handling packages. In the last few weeks, UPS is 100% for me in terms of survival rate (2 of 2) and FEDEX is 20% (1 out of 5). Yes, I’m starting a BTA ranch, lol. I will be requesting UPS whenever given that option from here on out.

 

[MoMoTheMonster]

I ended up getting my refund and placing another order. I received one very nice healthy BTA pictured bellow and another one that looked like it was put through a blender because someone put rocks in the bag with it. I'm not sure what that was all about. Maybe they were in a hurry and didn’t notice the rocks stuck to the anemone. All in all, I think that DD has great customer service, but FEDEX seems to be really hit or miss for some reason in my area for handling packages. In the last few weeks, UPS is 100% for me in terms of survival rate (2 of 2) and FEDEX is 20% (1 out of 5). Yes, I’m starting a BTA ranch, lol. I will be requesting UPS whenever given that option from here on out.

You got the purple BTA!! Very Nice!!

Sorry to hear about the blender nem. Hopefully 3rd times a charm!