My first (and perhaps last) Aqua SD order (1 Viewer)

[frankc]

I got this order on Wednesday, and the results were mixed.

The good:
The order was shipped Tuesday afternoon and arrived at 10am Wednesday morning, so definitely happy with the shipping time.
Three of the corals I ordered were as expected.
The primary inspiration for making this order is they seem to be the only ones who sell what they call Symphyllia wilsoni, but Tidal Gardens says they are now called Australophyllia wilsoni. They are really colorful and cool. Unfortunately I have since learned that some of them live in cooler water, so hopefully this one likes warm water.


Another coral I'm trying for the first time is a St. Thomas mushroom.


Also got a nice red shroom.




The bad:
I ordered a Ricordea yuma that looked like this on the website.

But what I actually got was this.


They only offer an "arrive alive" guarantee, and technically this is alive, but it sure is tiny. I know they can shrink down, but in their picture you can't see the frag plug, and I don't believe there is any way this tiny piece could expand to look like the picture without a year or two of growth first. I sent them this picture, but there response was "While we strive to provide accurate representations of our corals, we understand that size variations can occur." C'mon, man, this is a bit of an extreme "size variation". Then they said "As a gesture of goodwill, we'd like to offer you a better deal on your next order as a way to make up for this experience." There was no explanation of what the better deal might be, so I requested clarification. I will update this thread if I hear back.

 

[frankc]

The ugly:
The order came with a lot of "extras".

This sort of looks like a spaghetti worm, but it lacks any tentacles, so I assume it's not and might be a bad thing.


There was also this worm - kind of nice colors, but not sure if it's a fireworm or what.


There was also this sea spider, which looks pretty cool, but I don't know if they're good, bad, or indifferent.


Then there was these, the stuff nightmares are made of. There were three big ones, about 1/8 to 1/4 inch long, and a few small ones, and now a whole bunch of small ones after a few days in a jar. I'm guessing some type of isopod, and assuming I don't want them in my tank.


The website says all corals are thoroughly inspected and quarantined before sale, so I was not expecting all these critters. I wonder if one of them ate most of the yuma during shipping.

 

[Team Turtle]

Spiders are best kept out in my opinion. Some variety are known to eat zoas and other soft, fleshy corals.

 

[frankc]

Spiders are best kept out in my opinion. Some variety are known to eat zoas and other soft, fleshy corals.

Good to know. I wish I knew/could remember which critters came from which bag - if the spider was with the yuma, that could explain why there wasn't much left, although that seems like a lot for that tiny spider to eat in less than 24 hours.

 

[Team Turtle]

Mushrooms can shrivel up pretty tight when agitated. Give it a quick dip and see what happens in a few days

 

[frankc]

I did hear back from them today. They said I could get another yuma at 50% off, or they could send an acan, goni, or alveapora as a replacement. Didn't say if they'd cover shipping, but at least it's something reasonable.

 

[Daniel92481]

Sorry about your experience. I hope they make it right. If you can still see the yuma and it’s not disintegrating or losing tissue then I would give it some time, maybe a week or two.