Fish hiding in corner

[cberchiolli]

I just recently got home from a weekend trip to wisconsin and realized that three of my fish wont leave the corner of my tank.. I left my mom the responsibility over the weekend and left her instructions considering. I have three angels, three zebra danios, five tiger barbs, two catfish, two red tails, i also have three bala sharks that keep swimming in the corner of my tank... they seemed completely fine before i left.. all my levels seem to be fine with the temperature right around 76 degrees.. i cant figure it out.. should i take the balas back to the pet store? any help is appreciated

[Rosenweiss]

Hmm, it's hard to know unless you give more parameters! How are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels? How big is your tank? When did you add all the fish? Have you cycled? Those all will help! Thanks!

[Homedog98]

Definitely how big is the tank? Bala sharks get HUGE.

[cberchiolli]

All the parameters are fine.. ammonia nitrite and nitrates are all at zero.. the tanks completely cycled and has been for serveral weeks now.. the tank is a planted 55g .. the fish were fine when i left on friday and returned sunday with them being like this.. i have been doin water changes pretty much weekly.. any help is appreciated

[meegosh]

You say the tank is cycled but have no nitrates? In an established tank you should have nitrates present, which you keep in check with water changes. The only way you would have zero nitrates is if your tank was very densely planted.

How long has the tank been set up? The three fish that are hiding in the corner, what type of fish are they? It could be the balas are intimidating them and they are just hiding/stressed. I'd agree with the other posters, balas get way too big for your tank.

[Homedog98]

Nitrates aren't supposed to be 0, and all 3 balas and the 2 redtail catfish will quickly outgrow that tank... But I don't think that's the problem... Do you have any other pets? Or little siblings? Where are the fish hiding?

[cberchiolli]

come to find out my ph was extremely low just did a water change... do u think that ll solve the problem?

[Homedog98]

How big was the change?

[cberchiolli]

i did about a third of the tank... the ph was extremely low.. what could have caused this do u think? and whats a good way to keep the ph up? when its down that means the water is acidic right? appreciate it

[Homedog98]

Do you have any smaller siblings or pets?

[meegosh]

What are you using to test your ph? What are your readings?

[cberchiolli]

yea i have three dogs... no younger siblings though

[Homedog98]

It sounds like they got spooked. Are all if them in the corner?

[cberchiolli]

yea but they all are in seperate corners now kind of wierd to say the least.. i think ima just wait it out and see what happens i guess... do another change tomrw.. my ph is reading 6.0 unfortunately.. im using the liquid tester

[Homedog98]

Brand?

[Punkyfish]

I have a similar problem with my 64lt tank. I have 3 corys, 2 swordtails and 2 guppies. The 2 guppies are hiding behind the pump an never venture out, they used to be very social with the other fish. They are not eating either. No signs of disease but they do look a little sad. There have been no signs of fighting or bullying and water levels seem ok on daily checks. Help!

[Daumi]

Maybe their is not enough cover? Perhaps adding some more plants/rocks would give them the umph to venture out.

[Punkyfish]

Yea I thought that and so I added some more plants today. I now have 5 live plants an ATM no change in behaviour, hopefully it will help tho