Have my two O's (11" both) who have been together since they were about 2". Moved them from 75 gal. to a 125 gal. Have been treated them for ich and popeye on one of them. I have two large decorations (wood bark decor where they hide in to sleep at night and occassionally during the day). They each have the same decor. One on each side. The O that is the healthiest and strongest wants to sleep where the O with popeye sleeps so he keeps attacking him. He'll ram into him and poor guy with popeye does not see him so he is getting bruised. He'll try to fight back and occassionally clamps on the mouth but he is bruised on the mouth too. Water levels are good. Still dealing with ammonia not wanting to go under .25 so I keep placing Prime in there.

Question: Is popeye the same as swollen eye? I have heard both terms. Also, I still don't know if the exposure to very high ammonia levels (4.0) a month ago did some bad damage to his eyesight.

Question: Should I remove all the decor or does that help my O with the popeye by providing a place to hide (althought the other one forces his way in there)?

Please advice. I have invested so much time, effort and finances in keeping my O with popeye alive (Nemo).

THanks for the help.

If I were you, I would divide the tank so the ill one can heal.

You can get a divider at any local pet store.

Actually, I am going to go donate my other O to a shop. He is beating up on Nemo too much. Nemo is bleeding now and bruised really bad on his side. If I have a 125 gallon just for Nemo than so be it. I tried the seperator and the other O crashed hard right into it and flipped it causing great amount of water all over my living room.

I could not take it any more. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond but I just could not take it any more. I used the divider and the healthy/strong O just rammed right through it and flipped it. I removed him from the tank and took him to an extremely large pet store near Phoenix that put him in a very large tank with about 4 more large Os. My Nemo is in the 125 tank all by himself now and no one is bugging him. I am praying he heals.

What do you think I can put in tank to help with the swollen eyes/popeye and the cuts, bruises and broken fins that he now has?

Thanks again for your help.

I am not as experienced as some of the other people on here but i find that water quality goes a long way in healing fish. Make sure no ammonia or nitrites. Try to keep nitrates under 20 ppm...under 10 is even better. Keep up on water changes and he will heal up nice good luck

The best medicine for fish is PERFECT water. Ammonia 0 Nitrites 0 Nitrates <20. If your ammonia is above .25 that's very very damaging. Are you doing daily 30% water changes?