UPS is the Devil

[Gotsoup]

I waited all week for my Golden Puffer to be delivered Sat. as the day became later I started to worry and called UPS. I was told that my overnight priority Saturday Delivery marked Live animals would... no worries be on my door step first thing Monday morning! Furthermore, they had no idea where it was, thank goodness for the tracking number they apparently didn't use. So I am eagerly awaiting my dead fish that probably suffocated in a dark bag somewhere between Arizona and Kentucky ( I live in Nor Cal, why it was shipped to KY I will never know) Screw UPS they can suck it!

Sincerely,

A very ****ed off Gotsoup

[stangd1909]

Damn that sucks....

[Recty]

It does suck when shipping goes wrong... thankfully most retailers will work with you and you'll either get a refund or else you will get a new fish shipped to you.

That doesn't help the dead fish though.

[Gotsoup]

Yea, the guys at Reef Hot Spot actually called me Sat to see how the fish acclimated and I told him the bad news. They are taking care of everything and even think there is a chance the fish may still be alive, but I am doubtful. He is in a about 5 gallons of water so we shall see. I am expecting him in the next hour.

[blface]

Yea, the guys at Reef Hot Spot actually called me Sat to see how the fish acclimated and I told him the bad news. They are taking care of everything and even think there is a chance the fish may still be alive, but I am doubtful. He is in a about 5 gallons of water so we shall see. I am expecting him in the next hour.

Did he make it alive?????

[jcw]

let us know :)

[michael_cb_125]

Why did anyone use UPS to ship something alive? I would't trust UPS with anything I want to be delivered intact.

I'm sorry to hear about your fish.

Do let us know how everything turns out.

~Michael

[Gotsoup]

Still no order has shown up, a truck actually came down our street and when we flagged it down they said they had no record of a delivery to our address. I am currently on hold with management at UPS... I will have my pound of flesh

[AlexS95]

Any updates?

[SHARKSRME]

fugu for dinner?

[Gotsoup]

Still waiting... the said an I was their next stop @1:45pm and it would be there within minutes... that was almost an hour and a half ago

[Sonicblast12]

Probably just told you that to get you off the phone.

I've been through this before, the next step is for them to tell you it was delivered even though you never received anything.

[Gotsoup]

So they called me back at 3:15 and said ooops it’s at the store, never put on the truck since 7am this morning. You need to come pick up your most likely dead fish (I am 45 miles away at work) so I take off and pick up the fish about 4:45, over 72 hours since it has been shipped. I pull it out of the box on their counter so they can see what they killed and the little dude is alive!!! I have him drip acclimating right now. Hopefully there is no major damage, pics to come assuming he lives and eats. Screw UPS, but hey at least he's still alive. Reef Hot Spot put him in 7 or 8 10 gallon bags with at least 5 gallons of water; I am impressed that he survived this long.

[AlexS95]

Well that is good, but now I'm never using UPS. xD

[Herk]

I personally have had a lot of the same issues with Fed-Ex in the ohio area. I wouldn't say its exclusive to UPS. Kind of depends where you are at.

[Gotsoup]

Heres the little dude I will get some better pics up later
http://reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=4618&pictureid=31939

[pico-reefer]

he made it?? if he did hes a resiliant little bugger!

[jcw]

So they called me back at 3:15 and said ooops it’s at the store, never put on the truck since 7am this morning.

a comedy of errors.

With no remorse.


Sad.

[RDHDDRAGON]

I have been watching this thread for over 2 hours to see if he made it! lol

Can't wait to see more pics of him!

[rayn]

Sad story, but happy ending. Congrats on him being alive.

[tozzi]

Hey maybe u got a tough one then, a fighter! Good luck

[Gotsoup]

ugh, acclimation seemed to go ok, but he isnt looking so good, kinda semi floating around semi swimming, don't know if he will make it through the night... man I thought I got to him in time...

[SmithZero]

I really hope he makes it. Too late for this, but I have skipped drip acclimation the two times I had a similar shipping experience. I get them into QT as quickly as possible.

[Gotsoup]

I think his gills are burn bad. He lays on his side then swims up athrashes, doing flips and summersaults, but not really moving anywhere... not really sure what to do

[ENTMogul]

Man puffers are tough fish. I had family visiting me and I let my father feed the fish. Well, my puffer bit his finger, my father freaked out and pulled his hand out of the tank so fast the fish came with it, flew across the room and hit the ground (probably flew 15 - 20 feet). I scooped him up and stuck him back in the tank. He hid for about an hour and than came back out and was/is perfectly fine!

Try giving him some mussels, scallops, or clams. See how he reacts.

[lhm nole]

I think his gills are burn bad. He lays on his side then swims up athrashes, doing flips and summersaults, but not really moving anywhere... not really sure what to doHonestly being in the bag for that long drip acclimation could have sealed his faith due to ammonia and low ph imo I would have gotten temp close and plopped him in a nice quiet qt. GL to you really hope the little guy makes it not into puffers but it sure is a looker

[ashtree68]

hope he makes it!

[stangd1909]

Good news that he made it.

[KafudaFish]

1. Sorry for the crp.
2. Good luck and I hope he makes it and lives a very long and healthy life with you.

3. Everytime I saw this thread title I kept getting the image of Kathy Bates from Waterboy pop into my head.

[fish stalker]

Any update?

[Gotsoup]

As of 7 am he was still alive, but kinda gasping still, I will be able to call home for an update around noon. I was shocked he made it through the night. If he somehow lives I need an awesome name for him.

[blface]

I personally have had a lot of the same issues with Fed-Ex in the ohio area. I wouldn't say its exclusive to UPS. Kind of depends where you are at.

X2 Fed Ex sux just as bad.

[Gotsoup]

@ 11:40 he is still alive, breathing hard and not really moving, but alive.

[Jeremy Blaze]

Leave him alone in your quarintine tank, make sure he has plenty of hiding spaces, dont put too much light on the tank, Keep water quality up, throw in some halved mussels for food.

[Gotsoup]

Yea I am/have done all those thing, but he is in my DT not QT, just the way it worked out. Thank you Hopefully he pulls through.

[Jeremy Blaze]

Hope there aren't any aggresive tankmates to bully him around! Best of luck.

[jarrod13]

I'd call him FUPS, the f you can guess what it stands for ;-)

[ScottCRRT]

Man, that's a tough little fish. Hope everything turns out well. Let us know.

[D5HP]

I'd call him FUPS, the f you can guess what it stands for ;-)

Hahaha please choose this. Fups is a perfect name for a puffer anyways.

[Gotsoup]

lol, I like the name, but it looks bad I have him in a large net in the tank because the current was blowing him around as he did circles... the store doesn't want me to put him down, but I don't know how long I can watch this fish suffer in a hope for a Hail Mary. Advice???

[Recty]

I would be putting him into a QT tank, first suggestion, but it sounds like you're not going to do that.

2nd, make sure he has peace and quiet to recover. Maybe turn down all the flow in your tank but your return pump if you can. Keep the lights out, keep the other fish fed and make sure they arent bugging him.

[Jeremy Blaze]

Quarantine!

Are there any other tankmates?

Like I said before, leave the fish alone, in a quiet dimly lit tank, and offer plenty of food, and good clean water.

[Gotsoup]

So I moved him into a seperate area a special netting, where he will not be harrassed, lights have been off since monday. I attempted to feed him just in case to no avail. What worries me most is he simply spins and does flips when he moves. He has no balance and cannot locate anything. I feel he is damaged pretty bad from the shipping and have contemplated putting him down multiple times, but do not want to act to quickly.

[jarrod13]

I'd let him try to survive... If he's made it this far he's obviously a fighter, I know it can be hard to watch though being an animal lover

[Recty]

I dont think fish experience pain like humans... they know something is wrong but I dont think it's sitting there hurting and wishing for death. We always want to put our "advanced" human emotions and intellect onto animals but for the most part it isnt needed.

Long story short, I wouldnt put it down unless it was 100% for sure going to die (like it had a hole through it and it was bleeding and leaking guts) and just keep taking care of it. I have had a couple fish come in bad and recover over time. Although it does kind of suck for you to have to deal with it when all you wanted was a healthy fish.

[xxfirewaterxx]

So I moved him into a seperate area a special netting, where he will not be harrassed, lights have been off since monday. I attempted to feed him just in case to no avail. What worries me most is he simply spins and does flips when he moves. He has no balance and cannot locate anything. I feel he is damaged pretty bad from the shipping and have contemplated putting him down multiple times, but do not want to act to quickly.

Sorry to hear, the golden is my favorite of all puffers. Keep your fingers crossed, you never know.......

[Snapper66]

Cool Happy Ending.

[crobattt]

Cool Happy Ending.

Have you read the second page?

[muffe]

http://i51.*******.com/dcbzmw.jpg

Pull through fugu!

[crobattt]

lol nice

[ashtree68]

How's he doing?

[Gotsoup]

Well, last night he began to swim around, he has lost some color and has not fed yet. But he seems more active. That being said I am pretty sure he is blind. He swims but usually just runs into things, he is set up by himself right now and I will try some live food today to encourage him to feed. His eyes are not cloudy, but they are not black like usual either. It kinda of looks like they are dilated. I do not know if this can be fixed??? I still have the lights off and he is on his own, he has improved some. The retailer extended my warranty over 30 days and said he would take care of it. I am not really sure what to do if the fish does not get his vision back. I just hope he keeps improving each day.

[crobattt]

Just do a lot of water changes to keep the water perfect, his eyes may be burned, so it may take a while to either come back or become blind.

[Gotsoup]

What do you do with a blind fish?

[Recty]

I'd personally want my money back on the deal, but I've had a blind fish before. They do OK, the problem is you have to target feed them. It's certainly not easy, but if you can keep them fed, they eventually figure out pretty well how to move around the tank and not just bang into everything.

Although if you have aggressive fish at all with him, he is just going to get picked up nonstop as he will never see it coming and be able to defend himself.

[chrismck97]

hope he makes it

[Gotsoup]

I know I will get the $$ back, I had a partially blind tusk once, that lived for multiple years, but he eventually got scared and slammed into a power head killing him. I plan on getting a new puffer. So what do I do with the one I have if he is blind? Kind of a crappy perdiciment...

[jarrod13]

I'd give him the best home you can, that would be the best outcome in my opinion, plus you already have experience with blind fish

Any way you can post a video?

[Gotsoup]

Here is a video of him before I seperated him from the DT. He is still doing the same thing. Tried live crayfish this evening to no avail. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFj6e6F7YwI

[xtlosx]

He doing ok still?? UPS sucks the big one

[psykokid]

as already said before, drip acclimating after being in a sealed bag for so long was not the best thing. When you unsealed the bag the pH dropped like a rock and the waste that was in the water turned the water into ammonia soup in short order. That being said for any one reading this thread and has had a fish shipped and has been bagged longer than 12 hours best procedure would to be to float the sealed bag for 15 min then cut the bag open and immediately remove the fish from the shipping water into your tank. the stress from a difference in ph/salinity is much more desirable than having the fish be ammonia poisoned.

To the op, you may be able put him in a separate small tank with methelyne blue and an airstone (5 gal or smaller would be plenty, just giving the guy a therapeutic soak, not a new home) let him hang out in that for a while.

[Recty]

Here is a video of him before I seperated him from the DT. He is still doing the same thing. Tried live crayfish this evening to no avail. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFj6e6F7YwI

That's too bad. Puffers eyes are always changing direction and looking around, you can tell his arent moving at all, he definitely looks blind plus he is running into everything.

Not much you can do at that point but hope that with good TLC he might recover some sight.

[Gotsoup]

Yea, I do not have a long term 2nd tank and he still hasnt eaten, so I am hoping a long starvation or fish attacking him isnt the result. Sucks for sure.

[D5HP]

Hard to watch...that's a beautiful fish and Recty is right. Absolutely no movement from the eyes.

I would watch him and if he doesn't eat for another week or two and is losing weight I'd give him a nice ice bath to keep from having to watch it any longer. I would have already though and he obviously is a fighter.

If he starts eating...who knows what will happen...he might grow legs and go postal on UPS.

Good luck.

[Jeremy Blaze]

How much did this fish cost?

You should consider a quarintine tank, for future purchases. All you need is a 10-20 gallon, heater and a sponge filter.

Will certianly pay for itself fast.

Swimming issue was probably due to air in the body.

Puffers will often ingest air when pulled out of the water. It may take several days before they can expell it all.

[rayn]

That is sad. In its own tank now is good, hope it recovers some sight and makes it.

[Snausy]

Bah, and it's a nice golden....so sad.

I had a very similar experience when I lived in Iowa. I ordered a nice yellow-throat dogface puffer from Diver's Den and they sent it FedX(WAY better than UPS for live fish ime. I knew my driver and he'd actually call me in the morning to tell me he was on the way because he knew it was a live fish and put me first of the days dropoffs).

Problem is there was a freak blizzard and the puffer got stuck in Denver for two days. When he finally got to me I figured dead fish but he too was still alive just like yours. Both of his eyes were milky white and he wasn't doing well at all but he was fighting.

Long story short a week of pain and suffering later he finally just died in the night after I did everything I could to save him, spending what seemed like a fortune on salt and medicine. It was a total failure and I almost quit keeping fish that day.

Of course LiveAquaria credited my card immediately which was helpful but tbh it wasn't worth it. I HATED that week of my life and have never felt more sorry for a fish. You couldn't pay me to go through that again, let alone me paying them.

Watching such a personality-based fish like a puffer (who usually is always watching you and interacting with you to make you smile/laugh) not be able to see and just bump around the tank like a blind man without a cane is DEPRESSING.

You buy a nice puffer like that to love and laugh at, not feel bad about everytime you look at the tank. I was almost relieved when he finally died. Sad as that sounds...total bummer.

I hope he recovers fully, but having been through it myself I feel bad for you regardless of how it turns out. UPS...bah!

[Gotsoup]

Thanks, I usually use a Quarantine, but it really didn't matter in this case. Air in the body was not a factor in this situation. I am familiar with that issue and have burped a couple puffers in my time..lol. The puffer was $400 and ReefHotSpot did not charge me and is looking for a new one for me. I am debating about giving him to my LFS to see if they have any better luck getting him to eat now that he is blind. RHS also changed from UPS to FedEx because of this experience, which I thought was impressive. The owner has actually called me every night to to check on the progress. But yea it sucks, He was perfect color and is exactly what I was looking for... Damn UPS. Thanks for everyones advice, I was really hoping for a happy ending but I appreciate everyone trying to help via Internet.

[buy_baff]

This sucks because that is a beautiful fish. I'm impressed with RHS you got him from though I have never herd of a fish being shipped in that much water. I may have to check them out.
-Bill

[Fibinotchi]

Looks more like brain damage to me than blind. I've seen a blind scooter blenny before and its eyes where more cloudy.

[asid61]

Poor fish...

[FishBoy05]

Q?
Why has this gone to a topic about reef hot spot. They are not even a RC sponsor. The puffer situation is not fun for any of us to watch but I see no evidence of poor caretaking, just a bad ups deal - and yes the only way to ship is fedex - I had a guy in the military send a 16 inch horn shark overnight mail thru th usps and it showed up 36 hrs later. - same kind of deal the shark fine now, this fish is blind I wonder what the long bag time effect was. It may not have been 100 percent from the start.

-good luck I woulld take the blind puffer if I was close

- how bout a handi capped fish adoption house?

[lhm nole]

Q?
Why has this gone to a topic about reef hot spot. They are not even a RC sponsor. The puffer situation is not fun for any of us to watch but I see no evidence of poor caretaking, just a bad ups deal - and yes the only way to ship is fedex - I had a guy in the military send a 16 inch horn shark overnight mail thru th usps and it showed up 36 hrs later. - same kind of deal the shark fine now, this fish is blind I wonder what the long bag time effect was. It may not have been 100 percent from the start.

-good luck I woulld take the blind puffer if I was close

- how bout a handi capped fish adoption house?Cause this a hobbyist forum and it is good to know that a business like reef hot spot is willing to honor there guarantee for those that plan future purchases.

Imo the blind eyes are probably due to severe ammonia burns, and no matter who you use as a shipper this stuff happens whether it is Delta cargo southwest fed ex ups or usps some are just better than others.

Back to topic hopefully he can pull through for you if not good luck on your next one.

[Gotsoup]

Thanks, I agree with the possible ammonia burns. The reason I brought up the company was because the owner called me daily and changed from UPS to Fed Ex after the whole situation took place. Many on line retailers do not give that sort of customer service. Regardless it sucks to watch. I am thinking about giving him to a LFS to see if they maybe can give him more attention. He still hasn't eaten so I am running out of ideas.

[Flaring Afro]

Do you have a large sump you could keep him in to live alone? That's what I'd do with him. If not, I'd call up the lfs and see if they will take him for one of their sumps...

Hope he at least starts eating

[Jeremy Blaze]

Any update?

[Jacwil]

I dont think fish experience pain like humans... they know something is wrong but I dont think it's sitting there hurting and wishing for death. We always want to put our "advanced" human emotions and intellect onto animals but for the most part it isnt needed.



Seriously?????????

[Gotsoup]

He lasted about 14 days then he started getting stuck to the filter and I put him down... Really sucked...

[Jacwil]

Sry to hear that! Did RHS find you another?

[Recty]

Seriously?????????Yes, seriously.

Sorry to hear your fish died, you definitely gave it a good try though.

[Gotsoup]

I gave it my best... RHS found one but it was only 3-4 inches. They were going to try to find one from their diver in Hawaii, close to the same size and coloration this month. So the waiting game is on.

[curlykid]

So sad, i was really depressed when my puffer died. he had stopped eating and just fell to the bottom where the hermits ate him alive. His name was Poopie.

[Brycen97]

THAT SUCKS... u should still name the new fish FUPS

[JPhan1]

Sorry to hear that hope everything works out

[SoLiD]

Updates??? Dig you get another from RHS?

[Gotsoup]

No still waiting, they have had 2 come in but one was about 3 inches and the other had lots of black spots on him so I turned them down. They said they usually get 1 -2 per month so I am still holding on for a new one.