Update on my juvenile longfin(?) peppered cory, Jason!
I’m happy to report that Jason has made a full recovery! About three weeks ago, I noticed his eyes were bulging ( also called pop-eye or popeye ) and his scales were close to pineconing ( a sign of dropsy ), and that he had these awful, transparent blister-like growths all along his back and dorsal fin.
I did some research, and figured out that he had what’s called protein blisters or protein bubbles, caused by over-feeding of protein-rich foods. I’d noticed that he was becoming pretty chubby the past few months, but most cories are naturally plump, so I thought nothing of it until the growths became visible.
I didn’t want to euthanize him if there was a chance he could be saved, so I immediately put him on a strict regimen of being fed only half of his usual food every two days, and eliminating the sinking algae wafers from his diet altogether. To make him healthy, I had to essentially starve him so that his body would absorb the external fat deposits, which were the protein bubbles.
I was on vacation last week, so I left Jason, his juvenile emerald green cory tankmate Angelica, and the three neon tetras, with a 14-day feeding brick, most of which was unfortunately eaten by the pest snails in the tank ( which I am in the process of removing by picking out anywhere from 10 to 50 every day ).
In just three weeks, Jason has gone from this:
To this:
Noticeably slimmed down, no pineconing, no protein bubbles, and no popeye!
I had no antibiotics or aquarium salts to put into the tank, so all I did was do three 10% water changes, change the filter out, and help him lose some of the extra chub!
⬆️ some better pictures of him mid-recovery!
