Calloplesiops argus from Divers Den arrives in horrible shape

[ThRoewer]

Last Wednesday (Feb 17th) I ordered this Calloplesiops argus from Divers Den (item no. 0216211052) in hope to pair it with the one I already have.
It was listed as blemished due to what looks like an injury to the operculum and some scratches on the head, but in the listing's picture it looked otherwise fine with all fins present and in generally good health.

Due to the severe weather last week shipping got delayed a couple of days and the fish only got shipped out on Tuesday.
There was no serious delay in transit and it was delivered on Wednesday (though about 2 hours past the deadline).
When I unpacked the fish, I found it in rough shape and noticed that one of its ventral fins had rotted away to the fin base, leaving just a few bone stumps. Upon further examination I also noticed that one of its pectoral fins was in decay and mostly just the fin rays.
The fish was unable to keep itself upright and was just laying on its side:



As expected, the fish was dead in the morning:

I have seen this form of decay with locally acquired C. argus. First they look good and may even eat, but despite good environmental conditions they decay quickly with symptoms that suggest a bacterial infection but that don't respond to treatments with antibiotics.
Given that these are coming predominantly from Indonesia and the fact that they are quite difficult to catch with nets, my suspicion is that they were caught with cyanide and that the decay was caused by the resulting liver damage.

However, the thing that is beyond my understanding is how a fish in this condition could get shipped out by Diver's Den.
Is nobody there having a closer look at the fish before they are taken out of their holding tanks to be bagged for shipping?
And are fish at Diver's Den no longer kept under observation for at least 2 weeks until it is likely that they are good to be shipped?

what the heck happened to quality control at LiveAquaria's Diver's Den?

 

[LiveAquaria]

@ThRoewer Hello Thomas-thank you for reaching out. We sincerely apologize for the loss of your Calloplesiops Argus and most certainly for the condition of your arrival. I have reached out to the OPS manager in the Coral Farm to share your post, images and our shared concerns. Rest assured, he will address any quality assurance misses that occurred while fulfilling your order. You have been refunded in full for the order. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do to resolve this matter to your liking. Have a nice evening.

 

[ThRoewer]

@ThRoewer Hello Thomas-thank you for reaching out. We sincerely apologize for the loss of your Calloplesiops Argus and most certainly for the condition of your arrival. I have reached out to the OPS manager in the Coral Farm to share your post, images and our shared concerns. Rest assured, he will address any quality assurance misses that occurred while fulfilling your order. You have been refunded in full for the order. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do to resolve this matter to your liking. Have a nice evening.

You could find me another one if possible. I would need a male to pair with the female I have. These guys need to be captive bred. I'm right now working on getting a consistent supply of C. altivelis going which will be available from Biota (hopefully the first will be listed next month).

 

[ThRoewer]

@ThRoewer Hello Thomas-thank you for reaching out. We sincerely apologize for the loss of your Calloplesiops Argus and most certainly for the condition of your arrival. I have reached out to the OPS manager in the Coral Farm to share your post, images and our shared concerns. Rest assured, he will address any quality assurance misses that occurred while fulfilling your order. You have been refunded in full for the order. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do to resolve this matter to your liking. Have a nice evening.

Also, due to the cyanide issue with fish from Indonesia, Calloplesiops argus from there should be kept under observation for at least 4 weeks to ensure they are okay.
Better would be to source these from the Philippines where cyanide fishing has been banned and fish are checked for cyanide residues before cleared for export.

 

[LiveAquaria]

You could find me another one if possible. I would need a male to pair with the female I have. These guys need to be captive bred. I'm right now working on getting a consistent supply of C. altivelis going which will be available from Biota (hopefully the first will be listed next month).

Good morning @ThRoewer Our CF does not have any currently available or on order, he will reach out to Biota and we will let you know! Have a nice weekend

 

[Manny’s Reef]

Good morning @ThRoewer Our CF does not have any currently available or on order, he will reach out to Biota and we will let you know! Have a nice weekend

Amazing customer service in the way you're responding to this reefer. Job well done.

 

[ThRoewer]

Good morning @ThRoewer Our CF does not have any currently available or on order, he will reach out to Biota and we will let you know! Have a nice weekend

You misunderstood. I am the one who is breeding the Calloplesiops altivelis that will be available at Biota:
But I'm still looking for Calloplesiops argus broodstock.

 

[Doctor Faust]

You misunderstood. I am the one who is breeding the Calloplesiops altivelis that will be available at Biota:
But I'm still looking for Calloplesiops argus broodstock.

This is so cool!!

Do you know how to identify male/female? I've had mine for years, and among 4 others I brought for him, he only liked 1, with whom they were doing the mating dances, and it got rough. The new one died 1.5 years after being together from these injuries, and he has some injury too but is still alive. Has refused any other Altivelis of any size since that loss.
The last potential mate I brought was attacked immediately, so he's now in another tank with seahorses. I loved having the pair as they are the most fascinating thing! Just don't know how to tell which is male and which is female.