Sigh.
Okay, the box from sustainable reefs came with no problems whatsoever. That box included the ORA blue cespitularia that I'd ordered, plus three freebies: a 1/4" inch sympodium frag, a single head of denodrophyllia and five polyps of a nice multicolor acan. Everything arrived in good health.
The box sent directly from Lone Star is a complete disaster. Tiny styro box, everything bagged without oxygen, none of the xeniids were attached to styrofoam so they'd float in their own bags, and an oversized heat pack placed right next to the bags. Yellow encrusting xenia was completely melted, a bag of brown water and a frag disc with nothing left on it at all. Pink cespitularia in much the same shape, but a little bit of tissue left on the disc; it's melting but I've got it in the tank in hopes that some of it hangs on. Daisy xenia was melting but not as much, water in the bag was cloudy but not opaque like the others. Most of the tissue is still on the disc, but I can't tell if it's dead or not yet. The last item, a blue xenia, also was melting but still looks mostly okay. Of the four, that's the only one I'm pretty sure will make it.
I photographed the first couple of bags as I went and then the batteries in my camera died. Not much to worry about though - I really don't want a store credit from this place, as I really don't want anything to do with them in the future. I wrote them to let them know the deal, told them I wasn't interested in pursuing getting a credit with them, and that I'll eat the loss so I can put them behind me for good.
