Help blue and black stripe cichlid

Question
A couple of weeks ago I came home and was doing a usual routine to feed my fish. I have 2 yellow labs and 1 blue and black stripe fish. The stripe fish is male and one of the yellow labs is a male as well. I found my striped fish laying on its side at the top of the water near the filter. I thought it was dead. I touched it and is swam down to the bottom and it seemed like it was disoriented. After that I never had a problem until today. My husband went to feed the fish and noticed a slightly transparent bubble over its left eye and once again is was disoriented. He has a hiding place where he is always hiding but this time the smaller yellow lab female was in it. I am aware that the males are aggressive toward each other but the stripe usually holds his on ground. this is my first fish tank and this weekend would be time to be able to get more fish because 30day cycle would be over since it was a new tank. What is going on? He swims funny on his left side too now please help.

Answer
Hi Shevawn,
  Unfortunately that one fish is being badly beaten up.  You need to do something about that or it will likely be killed in the next day or so.  The bubble on its eye is a result of being bitten on the eye by the other fish.

  Probably the easiest and most effective thing you can do is to add a LOT more structure to the tank, e.g., rock, wood, plants (live or plastic), to break up the space and to provide many more hiding places for the fish.  

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>