Thanks all.
He did survive and when his fins improve I will post a photo.
This was the first time we purchased from the vendor. On the outside of the Styrofoam box there was two layers of tape and a whole bunch of disclaimer text. We ended up paying about $180 buck with shipping so I asked the wife to take photos of the package.
She made a video.
Apologies for the audio as we don't have any editing software.
We will post a edited copy at some point.
Not sure why anyone would stage anything like that?
Our tank is about 6' high and I needed a siphon hose to get the water, not necessarily the water, but heck in times of crisis.
The bag he was in had multiple tiny holes from his fins and the vendor suggested the box was jostled to a degree causing the small punctures.
The second layer of newspaper meant as padding just soaked out the water leaving a 8" fish in about two cups of nasty smelling yellow water.
We immediately put the fish in a tub and siphoned off 3-4 gallons into the tub.
This is the green tub in the photo.
After a period of dripping that followed of 2 hours he started to come around.
Very hardy fish I guess.
The wife suggested we name him with some sort of survivalist name.
I typically don't name fish.
In no less than 20+ shipments we have never received a package in this shape. However the vendor was great and offered a full refund. We let him know as soon as the fish started eating that the situation had been remedied.
He arrived Thursday via FedEx (Its also 100+ degree F. in Phoenix now) and this morning he looked 100% better.
Cheers!
great thing he is alive...