Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board  

Go Back   Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board > General > Reef

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 03-09-2018, 02:11 PM
corpusse's Avatar
corpusse corpusse is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Mississauga
Posts: 394
corpusse is on a distinguished road
Default Any recent experience with coral carry on in Canada?

I live in the middle of no where. Even shipping is problematic here. I'm going to Montreal next weekend and I'd like to bring back a few corals. If I get sps or select lps I can just wrap them in wet paper towels and forgo the water. This way even a colony can be transported in less then 100ml of water.

I would like to get some flower anemones and they obviously need water. The rules in Canada are much more problematic then in the US. According to the Canadian Air Transport security authority all liquids must be 100 ml or less and fit in the 1L bag. I just filled a bag with 100ml of water and it looks like it's probably enough for a flower anemone but here is where it gets interesting. You can bring up as many 100ml liquids as can fit in the 1L bag. So in theory I can buy 5 anemones put them in 100ml of water and bring 5 more 100ml bags of saltwater and simply combine them after I pass through security.

My question is are they really this nuts over exact ML of liquid? when you put deodorant / makeup / personal products in the liquid bags I've never really seen them look at them much.
When I asked them if I could bring 10 100 ml bags of water their answer was :
"as long as the 100ml containers all fir in the 1L bag, it's permitted."

Option 2 is to check my bag, but realistically I'm not going to buy a lot of stuff and as I'm only going for 3 days a carry on is enough for my actual luggage. Seems like a waste of $30+ Hopefully someone has some recent experience.

Also while I'm posting any montreal LFS recommendations?
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 03-09-2018, 03:14 PM
Myka's Avatar
Myka Myka is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Saskatoon, SK.
Posts: 11,268
Myka will become famous soon enough
Default

You can buy containers with CBSA approval. As long as there is a living animal inside the water in that container then it is ok. I'll find out where to get those containers...
__________________
~ Mindy

SPS fanatic.

Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 03-10-2018, 08:13 PM
Madreefer's Avatar
Madreefer Madreefer is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Prince George
Posts: 2,064
Madreefer is on a distinguished road
Default

No more than 31/2oz of liquid allowed.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 03-10-2018, 09:23 PM
corpusse's Avatar
corpusse corpusse is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Mississauga
Posts: 394
corpusse is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Myka View Post
You can buy containers with CBSA approval. As long as there is a living animal inside the water in that container then it is ok. I'll find out where to get those containers...
I tried to find these via google search but nothing came up. Any more info Mindy?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Madreefer View Post
No more than 31/2oz of liquid allowed.
That is 100ml.

As mentioned above you can have up to 1L of total liquid (per person), so the option is of course to put coral in 100ml or less of water and then just prepackage 100ml portions of water to recombine after going through security, but is this really necessary? In the US they have all these flight approved coral carry on containers that exceed the limit but due to the fact it's a living animal they let you carry it on.

In Canada officially they do not allow this but they do allow up to ten 100ml containers of liquid as long as they fit in that 1L bag. So officially you can do just do the transfer once you pass through security. My question is is this really necessary, does anyone have recent experiences with airport security?
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 03-10-2018, 11:00 PM
WarDog's Avatar
WarDog WarDog is offline
Darth Moderator
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Maple Ridge, BC
Posts: 3,106
WarDog will become famous soon enough
Default

Davej brought zoas back from Macna San Diego, hopefully he can chime in.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 03-11-2018, 01:19 AM
davej davej is offline
Zoa Hoarder
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Port Moody , B.C.
Posts: 204
davej is on a distinguished road
Default

I brought Zoas wrapped in wet paper towels and then placed into specimen containers. Had to explain to customs what I was bringing across. Got waved thru.
You need to know what
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 03-11-2018, 02:43 PM
ReefMadness ReefMadness is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Saskatoon
Posts: 98
ReefMadness is on a distinguished road
Default

I brought corals home from macna New Orleans in a TSA certified container that we purchased at the show.
it wasn't anything fancy as the stipulations were that the container be sealed but accessible for water sampling at customs and transparent for inspection. the container actually holds close to 2 cups of water which wasn't questioned whatsoever when either departing or arriving.
the bigger issue on their end was determining what is legal (softies and zoas mostly) for what is cities protected (corals with skeletons or are affixed to liverock). the customs agents were oblivious to the laws and had to leave a couple of times while I sat in secondary inspection to double check the information I was giving them was in fact truthful.
I kept my corals but ultimately regardless of what you're bringing, if customs deems it unlawful, unsafe or suspicious they will dump the container so it's in your best interest to be patient and cooperative.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 03-19-2018, 02:02 PM
corpusse's Avatar
corpusse corpusse is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Mississauga
Posts: 394
corpusse is on a distinguished road
Default

Just an update. I was traveling from Montreal QC to Sault Ste Marie ON. Since I could never find out about the real liquid limit I just wrapped the corals I purchased in wet paper towels like I did in the past. - I was going to ask security if I could bring fish in a bag through but didn't bother.

No issues at security and they didn't even open the bags. I did lose one piece I bought but it was a discounted maricultured acro in a tank that had a bunch on their way out. That was my fault as I still purchased things like I was just bringing them home and expecting them to bounce back in my system.

Other pieces were fine though. First time at a reef shop in 6 months! When I used to live in Mississauga I went to the fish stores almost every weeks.

Reefsolution in Laval is a very nice shop with a 500 gallon SPS display tank. If you're ever in the area check it out if just to see what they have.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 03-19-2018, 06:02 PM
kaboom kaboom is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Calgary
Posts: 204
kaboom is on a distinguished road
Default

Can you describe the steps you take from when the corals leave the store/house? How long are the coral's out of water and what type of corals have been successfully transported this way.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 03-19-2018, 07:05 PM
corpusse's Avatar
corpusse corpusse is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Mississauga
Posts: 394
corpusse is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by kaboom View Post
Can you describe the steps you take from when the corals leave the store/house? How long are the coral's out of water and what type of corals have been successfully transported this way.
Sure. I have done this twice. Corals that have survived include acros, birdsnest, zoas/palys and cyphastera - LPS scared me but they seem to be fine to transport like this. Depending on what you read it may actually be better to transport some corals without water, as they slime and that's what ends up killing the corals in the bag. - Too long in the bag is worse with water and my recent experience may back this up.

This time was not ideal at all. I wasn't in montreal to buy corals but since I have no opportunity to buy corals here I took this chance. I purchased the corals Saturday afternoon kept them in the bags in my hotel overnight in the ice bucket which I also put a bag of warm water in to keep them a little warmer then room temperature. I likely kept them in the bags too long about 24hrs when I probably could have wrapped them a little earlier. Like I said I took a chance on a piece that looked fine but it was in a tank with many suspect pieces and was greatly reduced in price.

Prior to heading to the airport I laid some paper towels down in the sink and poured the water from the bags over them. I got rid of most of the water that soaked in then completely covered the corals in the paper towels then removed most of the air from the bags and then closed them (ziplock). They were out of the water from about 1pm to 10pm. I transported them inside a lunch bag that was insulated in my carry on bag.

The first time I did this last year I bought corals and did the switcheroo in the airport washroom. The corals only spent 1hr in their bags and maybe 6hrs out of water. That time I had 100% survival 6 or 7 pieces. I would feel comfortable transporting any sps, zoa or paly, as well as most lps. I was hesitant to try anemones, or mushrooms. Other soft corals may be okay but haven't personally tried.

If I was buying hundreds of dollars worth of coral I'd probably check the bag and just pack them like how corals that are shipped are backed, but for a small amount this is more cost effective as it can be done in carry on and you don't have to tell the airline. Apparently air canada changed their regulations about fish / pets (which somehow include coral) and require them to be shipped via cargo at an additional cost. The funny thing is when you want to get a store to ship you via air canada cargo they may tell you they don't ship animals cargo to small airports.

Porter seems to have a more liberal policy. With that in mind on my next trip which actually is partially just to buy corals / fish I will check a bag.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 09:47 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.