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He is young, his eye was pretty bad at first but its gotten and continues to get better. I think a full recovery with his one eye is possible. Not sure of what he is though.

What do you folks think??

Corydoras paleatus. aka "Salt and Pepper Cory"

He is sooo dark though. I have 13 other peppered and non are vblack like him.

I'm not sure that matters. You say this fish was beat up (in the eye); is there a wound further back on the body, behind the left pectoral fin and gill cover? The top photo seems to show a wound, but that may be a visual illusion in the photo, as I don't see it in the lower photos.

I've never had peppered corys, but I've had other corys where there are slight differences in natural darkness between individuals.

Also, if this individual is wounded and therefore stressed, stress can cause temporary color change in either of two directions: occasionally, stressed fish are washed out in coloration; often though, stressed fish look particularly dark. This is at least in part because a stress hormone known as ACTH possesses a natural activity that also stimulates the pigment cells called melanocytes, which make the dark pigments (this is called hyperpigmentation). So a fish which overproduces ACTH due to chronic stress can darken over time. This is the same phenomenon which causes humans with a disease called Addison's Disease to develop very dark tans.

So your fish could just naturally be darker than the others, and that would tend to be permanent. However, if it is due to the stress of its injuries, then when and if the fish heals and starts to blend in well socially with the other peppered cats, this hyperpigmentation may (not will) fade over time.

Cheers, Eric

There is no injury on the body and the eye has gotten much better and possibly will fully recover at this rate.

i think paleatus as well. ive seen many that dark....it could be something else, the clues and more information would help - where did you get it? what was in the tank with it? if you got it at any type of chain store its almost 100% a paleatus...they dont do variety. if it was a local fish store, a private or locally owned one, it may be something else, but i still doubt it. paleatus are really common, so its most likely that

That looks just like my Peppered Cories. Mine started out silver with black spots when I had them on a light/natural colored substrate. I changed it to black gravel, and within a couple of days all cories were almost black, like yours.