Well.....CRAP!

OK some of you replied to my other post where my blue linka star died, and my corals weren't doing so hot. An update, and its not good. My colt, and pagoda are doing better actually and I'm trying to acclimate them to the light slowly by leaving the 2x96W PCs on all day, and turning on the single 96W PC strip on for 2hrs, then 3hrs the next day, then 4hrs tomorrow....and so on. That is working. But from the get-go, the toadstool looked like crap. Well I don't put my hand in the tank (unless feeding my bulb tip anemone which is still doing WONDERFULLY!), but today I was looking for a small coral frag the my stupid damsel keeps picking at and tossing behind the rocks (still haven't found it this time, it think I'm giving up on that). While I was looking for that, the toadstool shifted off its rock, and its base looked awful! The "skin" or whatever was peeling away, and this white powdery/gooey stuff was spewing out of the part of the skin that was peeling or flaking or whatever. I took it out right away. I will never order corals online again! Or any livestock because the star died too and the rep said "all livestock goes thru a lot of stress when it gets shipped" so screw that! Any other thoughts on what might have happened? Should I lay low on putting anything in there for awhile? I want to go this weekend and buy a couple corals from my LFS, the water parameters are fine, nitrates are like 5-10ppm tho. *sigh* I'm not sure...oye I love this hobby but its so FRUSTRATING sometimes! :-/ :-X :-[

 

could have been a one time thing...don't give up just yet. another bit of advice is to buy online from companies close to your residence. shipping will still cause stress but the livestock won't have to travel as far. personally, i've only bought from an lfs just for that reason you mentioned...i'm very skeptical.

 

Well luckily the website credited my card with a full refund for the guys that died. They have a 14 day guarentee. Oh well, lesson learned. I think I'll head to the LFS today and see whats up.