Where did you get AEFW from?

chort55 · Jun 13, 2012

Memory and Destiny said:
There will always be demand for classic corals which are hardy, fast growing, and look nice. Green slimmer, various polyps, green and pink pocillopora damicornis, etc. Lots of people are new to the hobby and are not bored with these. Plenty will have their system crash and have to rebuild. There is more to corals than just novelty.

I know people who have these classic corals, and they grow so fast they just throw them out. There is still a strong demand for these, but supply far exceeds it. All you have to do is stop buying new corals for a couple of months, and then you can advertise the fact, and sell pocillopora damicornis frags for 40 bucks each instead of throwing them out.

Yes such a high demand for it that people litterally throw it out... thats gonna pay the bills lol As a retailer to stop buying corals for a couple months they could easily lose out on say even just 5 hott pieces that would have kept the lights on for a while, yet you want them to miss out on them... no cost there either huh? lol

NO one in their right mind is going to pay $40 for pocci these days when like you said people litterally throw it out.... pest free or not. Heck I wouldn't even pay $40 for green slimer if it was proven pest free (although theres really no way to prove it other then time and Im not going to pay extra to find out in 6 months to a year that it really was pest free lol.

All Delight · Jun 13, 2012

Memory and Destiny said:
Lots of people set up a new tank, and then stock the system from a single supplier.

I don't know one single reefer that has ever done that. Not one.

BTW, did you create a new username just for this topic?

All Delight · Jun 13, 2012

Memory and Destiny said:
There will always be demand for classic corals which are hardy, fast growing, and look nice. Green slimmer, various polyps, green and pink pocillopora damicornis, etc. Lots of people are new to the hobby and are not bored with these. Plenty will have their system crash and have to rebuild. There is more to corals than just novelty.

There is some truth to that. While the demand maybe very very small, albeit there is some demand. As you say lots of people are new to the hobby and and aren't bored w/ these. That's also true, but I would say 95% or more of new hobbist aren't on the internet or reef forums looking for corals. Their going to their LFS. Most people that actively hang out on the forums are reefing addicts. And it's us addicts that shop at online coral shops because they have the hottest, hard to find corals. Ask Battlecorals, RockyMountainFrags, CherryCorals, if Green slimmers, various polyps, green and pink pocillopora damicornis, etc keep them in business.

chort55 · Jun 13, 2012

All Delight said:
I don't know one single reefer that has ever done that. Not one.

BTW, did you create a new username just for this topic?

What, you mean your entire tank isnt full of coral from just one place? OMG, you trade with friends/ other local hobbyists thats just absurd you know you could be spreading bugs and crazy stuff like that and to friends at that... all because your source didn't dip, QT, dip again and QT some more before selling you that piece. Rebels!! LOL

BTW, I was wondering the same thing lol

Poseidon · Jun 13, 2012

Certainly a topic that deserves some attention. Just remember to keep comments on topic, and debate the point, not the person.

In my own experience, I dipped every coral I could when I was a manager of a LFS. My vet was even kind enough to add a pet to my account named "Reef Tank", so I could buy Interceptor to treat red bugs.

However, even with my dips and monthly treatments, there were times the tank at the shop had bugs... As soon as I was aware of the issue, I would stop selling from that tank until the bug was eliminated. (Worms, bugs, Nudi's didn't matter, I wouldn't sell.)

Now, to take that to a wholesale level would entail ENORMOUS costs, I would imagine it would even cause a few doors to close. There are LOTS of wholesale chop shops that simply import/frag/export the coral may only be there a couple days. Is it right? Not in my opinion. Does this mean you get to buy the next WHAMMIN BAMMIN STRAWBERRY SHERBERT ORANGE FLAVORED WITH SPRINKLES ON TOP INSERT CORAL NAME HERE Piece cheaper? You bet it does.

How long would that shop last when the dip kills 1/3 of their fresh cut frags, and kills 1/4 of what doesn't die in the first dip? What happens to the price?

As I am no longer in the trade in an official capacity, I support shops that TRY and dip and QT, but ultimately I believe the responsibility to prevent pests lies with the hobbyist.

NJ Reef Farm · Jun 13, 2012

I have had frags from high end venders lfs and others with signs of pests on them. we all need to not trust anyone and qt everything
we all put too much time and money into this hobby not to qt. spend a little extra time and in the end we well all have happy healthy reefs.

SteezySPS · Jun 13, 2012

Memory and Destiny said:
I see threads of people complaining that they recently acquired parasites, but people dont seem to be mentioning where the parasites came from. When we know which vendor gave us the parasites, why not share this on the forum? Some of you are certainly 100% sure of the source (infected acro is the first and only acro in your system.)

Frag consumers could maintain elaborate quarantine protocols, but it would be far more efficient for the coral farmers to just sell us parasite free frags.

I doubt it would be that hard for the coral farmers to create a parasite free system and then stop introducing potential sources of parasites. We have organic produce, free range chicken, etc. Coral farmers should be advertising their parasite free status and consumers should be keeping them honest.

yeah and watch the prices soar. businesses dont want us to get pests because they would lose customers but whiolesalers get large amounts of acro. do you understand the costs of holding inventory? from a business standpoint not efficient at all and do you know how difficult it is to find pests? dipping helps but it cant be guaranteed. thats why no one is bold enough to say their systems are pest free because their reputation is on the line and they could go out of business for it.

droblack · Jun 14, 2012

Dip all new corals. Universal precautions: treat everything as if it were infected, regardless of where it came from. So easy with corals there really is no excuse. A QT tank for fish is much more difficult, yet many people have way more $ in their corals.

illcssd · Jun 14, 2012

We dip all incoming corals when received straight out of the box, as a precaution. Sadly this doesn't guarantee pest free corals, but it is what we can reasonably manage and we haven't had an outbreak in a couple years. We also keep a variety of wrasses and dotty backs in all coral tanks to hopefully control anything that gets through the dip. This way it isn't an unreasonable amount of extra time for us and I do think most vendors could manage at least those preventative steps.

Chameleon · Jun 14, 2012

that is like asking elementary schools to keep out cooties....
for captive coral growing it may be possible...not easy...but majority of places get many acros from the wild = impossible...