Coral Handling/Care

[fijiwigi]

Shopping for my first corals. And I am wondering about if corals need acclimated or Quarantined. When I get them in the mail can I just drop them in the tank. Or is there a process to go through to acclimate the coral? During shipping do the corals go dormant how do they handle the 2day shipping process. Can they go into shock. Has anyone ever had some kind of coral die between the shipper and your tank?? Do I have anything to worry about?

 

[melosu58]

When getting them online you can either have good or bad experiences. It`s really a bad time to ship them now in the winter. They will not be able to handle the cold. Esp on a 2nd day shipping. You will really need to do a long slow drip acclimation. Who did you buy them from?

 

[fijiwigi]

When getting them online you can either have good or bad experiences. It`s really a bad time to ship them now in the winter. They will not be able to handle the cold. Esp on a 2nd day shipping. You will really need to do a long slow drip acclimation. Who did you buy them from?

haven't bought any yet. Just trying to understand how corals respond to the shipping process. And trying to understand the coral acclimating process.

 

[Ziggy953]

I sell and ship corals all over the country. The key to acclimating a shipped coral is to get the water to temp. Most of the time a seller will ship using heat packs if it is cold in your area.

This is how I handle corals that have been shipped:

Open the bags as soon as you get them out of the box. They will need O2. Float the bag in your tank letting the water temp equalize. During the floating period put some of your tank water into the bag. When the bag gets too full pour some of the water out of the bag (not in the tank) and repeat the process until you have pretty much done a water change in the bag. I do not recomend doing a slow drip when acclimating corals or fish for that matter. Water temps drop, ph will drop and O2 will drop in the container that you are slow dripping in. I have had success with the corals I have sold and shipped with this method. The faster you can get the coral into your system the better the chances are that it will make it. Make sure to inspect the coral after opening it to make sure that it is alive. You will know if it isn't, as soon as you open the bag it will smell very bad!

I don't suggest 2nd day shipping with corals or fish, overnight is the way to go!

 

[Innovator]

Corals can be very forgiving animals and oftentimes the following tend to be the main factors in shipping them: the care taken in handling and packing them, shipping weather, and the type of coral being shipped. If packaged correctly the majority of common corals purchased have high survivability, but ime sps corals have the added protection of a hard calcareous skeleton, which provides some cushion while in the bag. LPS and soft corals do rather well if suspended by styrofoam to allow oxygenation and keep from settling where tissue can be damaged and/or just rot. Many palythoas, zoanthids, mushrooms, and gorgonians do quite well just sitting at the bottom of a well-prepared bag.

Once you receive the corals make sure to check temperature, pH, and salinity so you can determine what type of acclimation is needed, if necessary. When I acclimate I prefer to float the bags for 10-15mins for temperature equalization and an hour flow-through drip; however, if the bag looks tinted (usually brown due to coral "stress") I will assess the corals health and either give a fast (non-restricted) flow-through drip or place the coral immediately into quarantine or its display. Sometimes you receive stock in very poor condition and judgment calls must be made, but this is where their resilience can surprise you. If any other questions feel free to ask

 

[lando]

I recommed a slow drip acclimation and then a bath in a product such as Seachem's Coral Dip.

 

[lando]

BTW Ziggy...why have I not gotten any of your corals here in Minnesota?

 

[Ziggy953]

You haven't asked for any

 

[lando]

My I have some corals, please?

 

[cmor1701d]

Hey Lando, get in line <g>.

So we have 3 answers and they are all different on acclimation of corals.
I agree that you want overnight shipping, never 2 day.

I have done both the floating bag with water addition method and the slow drip method. Both have worked. What has not worked for me was putiing a coral in QT for longer than a couple of days. The tank is not mature enouhg and I do not have emough light (196w PC light on a 30g) for corals used to MH lights. Getting the coral into the tank asap has worked.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Just another answer to throw into the grab bag!

I do my corals the same as my fish: float closed bag in water for 5-10 minutes to equalize temperature, then drip acclimate in a small plastic tub for 30-45 minutes... perhaps 60 minutes, depending on the salinity of the water in the bag to start with. I will tend to rush corals I get at a LFS more than ones that have come mail order. With mail order, I figure the thing has been in the bag probably 18 hours already... what's another hour?

I don't quarantine my corals because while I know I should, my QT doesn't have adequate lighting and I don't want to stress the coral any more than it needs to be. No dips, just a gentle "swish" in the acclimation water before putting it in my main tank to get any debris, mucous, etc off.

Oh... overnight shipping, always.

[Edit: Also... to answer your question, "no" I've never had a coral die in transit. I would seriously doubt anyone has. They're not like fish. Death for a coral is often a long process. Any damage the coral receives during transit will probably not become apparent for many weeks. All my coral deaths have been due to clumsy snails/crabs, or incorrect placement by me and not correcting the problem in time. ]

 

[lamaseta17]

hey ziggy im in new york once i get rid of my two puffers and eel i will definitly buy some coral from you. im new to coral right now any advice on what i should have before getting the coral from you, thanks

 

[Devilishturtles]

I tend to follow the same procedure as Ziggy. I immediatley open the bags and sit them in the tank, to allow temps to stabalize. Then after 15 or 20 minutes, I pour some tank water into the bag, dump some out when it gets full, and repeat. I don't QT my corals because my QT tank doesn't have a light on it, and I don't much think it's needed if you can give it a good inspection before you put it in the tank.

Never had a coral die in transit, but I have lost a head on my frogspawn from it. LPS corals are probably the hardest to ship because they have both the really sensitive fleshy tissue and a hard, usually sharp skeleton to lay against.

HTH!

I've had really good luck buying both from liveaquaria.com and reefhotspot.com

 

[melosu58]

I wish I could say I`ve never had a coral die in transit but I could not say that. Several yrs ago I ordered a yellow figi leather and a brain coral and both were dead when I got them. Dont know what happened but they were dead and falling apart. I dont QT my corals and depending on the coral and circumstances will dictate how I acclimate it. I`ve also ordered from my LFS since that order that ended up a tradedy.

 

[Ziggy953]

hey ziggy im in new york once i get rid of my two puffers and eel i will definitly buy some coral from you. im new to coral right now any advice on what i should have before getting the coral from you, thanks

Well the biggest need for any tank that you are going to put coral in is excellent water! You will need enough light to support the coral and you will need a good skimmer to keep the water clean. Having a sump with refugium helps as well. PM me with a run down of your tank and I will give you an idea of things to look at.

 

[fijiwigi]

Thank you for the responses. Exactly the answers I was looking for.