Zoanuts do other people like their corals?

[dtaylor123]

This is a recent experience I have had with the Zoanuts. Their web site is filled with beautiful corals. I ordered these corals at these prices.

1 Tortise Shell Cynarina
Item # 326 $51.00 USD
1 Blessed Blasto Merletti
Item # 247 $34.00 USD
1 Kaleidoscope Acanthastrea
Item # 244 $35.00 USD
1 Zombie Eye Ausie Acan
Item # 104 $18.00 USD
1 Blue Tooth Acan
Item # 342 $67.00 USD
Amount $205.00 USD


I ordered these on September 7, 2007. I received them on September 12, 2007. On September 11, 2007 they were shipped. They came with an “ice pack”, even though the morning of the 12th Brighton’s temps were in the low 50’s. I took the temp of the water, it 56-57. I floated the bags for hour, then I drip acclimated them in my system. Beacause they were all small I used epoxy to attach them to some rubble rock. I could not figure out which corals were which, expect for the “ Blessed Blasto Merletti. I put in the tank and was sadden by the amount of $$ I flushed down the drain. I knew I was ordering frags, even though the invoice does not say that. I was duped into thinking a five head frag was a nice size piece. I should have known when the site doesn’t post any pull out shots, just their 100 mm macro shots, with the white balance adjusted. Zoanuts choose not to give any kind of refund. This is a direct quote from my email to the owner.

“On Michigan Reefers and Reef Central, people knew I ordered from you and
want to see the pictures, frankly I am embarrassed to show them, I am not
sure of what to do.”

I am not trying to be vindictive, I am embarrassed. If you feel these corals are worth it or even in the same ball park, then you found a place to buy from.

My lights are different than Zoanuts T5’s the light with, but even with my 250 watt 10K MH off and just the four T5 super actinic’s on, they still showed no brilliance what so ever. The blasto’s are a common variety only thing different is they are much smaller! This is the link to the Merleti’s I bought: http://www.zoanuts.com/index.php?page=2&cat=lps

I am bummed that was not smart; being able to pay only in paypal and full pictures should have been a clue. I made a very bad choice, but I have to live it. I understand how much vendors rely on sites to get a good reputation, but it has to go both ways. The pictures were took with my D70’s last evening, it was set on auto and I will say they represent the corals very well, if anything they give them more “pop”. Anyone is welcome to come over and see them. The Cynarina, is now almost dead, it was damaged in shipping, the owner, hmm it shouldn’t have been. The shipping adequate, the corals were in a very small bag, then placed into the larger and packed with news paper, the an ice pack on top. There was a mistake by DHL they dropped it off at the wrong house, I called DHL and said how could that of happened? It was deliver with signature only, DHL relied that was not true, I then received the corals 1 hour and 50 minutes later. Then I did what I stated earlier. How much nicer would they have been without freezing with an icepack in 50 degree weather? Some I think, but I can’t even tell what corals are what besides the Merleti’s. All my parameters are good, Nitrate <2.5, Salinity 1.024, Mag 1400, Calcium 420, Alk 8.4 dKh.
Any ways here are the photographs:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b326/dtaylor123/Reef%20Photos/Zoanuts/merloti-1.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b326/dtaylor123/Reef%20Photos/Zoanuts/scolymia-2.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b326/dtaylor123/Reef%20Photos/Zoanuts/acan-3.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b326/dtaylor123/Reef%20Photos/Zoanuts/acan-4.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b326/dtaylor123/Reef%20Photos/Zoanuts/acan-5.jpg

Dan

[Red Firefish]

I don't know anything about that website, but it looks like your Acanthastrea will all recover nicely. Your Cynarina might come back too, since it looks like there's a good amount of tissue left. Also, speaking as someone who only buys locally, those prices seem REALLY high for what you actually got. Good luck!

[dtaylor123]

A bump, just curoius to see other reefers take.

[Dr Begalke]

this should be in the feedback forum.

[dc]

[moved]

[Illuminati]

Less than impressed with the frag pack I ordered, the zoa's were tiny and bland, the only good thing from it was the Nuclear Greens I got have done well but even those came with bryopsis on the frag plug.

Of course this was before his site, he used to sell on here before getting banned. Won't risk ordering again.

I had another vendor from Oregon send me an order last week overnight with an ice pack in with the corals, maybe we need to send a memo letting them know that overnight lows are dropping :)

[Stoneyscoral]

I have never ordered from Zoanuts but don't give up on those frags. I ordered $1500 worth of micro and lord frags several years ago. They were soooo small I couldn't tell which one's were which either. They looked really sad for a long time but they turned out to be some of the best corals I had ever purchased.

Good luck with your corals.

[seacritter]

I had ordered one of their nice yuma's a few weeks back and when I unpacked it, the yuma was half melted in the bag. I immediately emailed Dustin and he sent out a replacement a week later, completely free of charge. The replacement arrived healthy and is doing great. I would order from him again since his customer service was great. I get the impression his business is new and he is going thru a learning process as far as shipping goes. His packaging was great but I think his bags were to small not enough water and oxygen. The second yuma arrived in a larger bag and it shipped fine.

[dtaylor123]

Zoanuts has given me a resolution on this issue and I am satisfied with outcome. I made mistakes on this order as well as Zoanuts, we both agreed to have closure on this issue. I hope Zoanuts continues to prosper and I also feel that they have learned from this transaction. Zoanuts was always respectful in all their communications with me.

Dan