Came back from vacation and Ropefish is going crazy

[Nick2Sick]

Hey all. I went for a vacation for 4 days and came back to a ropefish constantly trying to escape the tank. I had read before they are "escape artists" so I made sure there's nothing he can easily escape through. Before leaving he had never made any attempt to leave the tank so I'm trying to figure out his behavior.

Size: 55 gallon
Nitrates/Nitrites/Ammonia: Tested levels were all low
Ph: Around 6, added some Ph balancer last night
Temperature: ~76
Tankmates: Blackghost knifefish (him and lungfish would stay in hollow piece of driftwood together), lungfish (seem fine with each other), pleco, german red ram, others (feeders that survived, tetras)

After I came back it seems the only thing he is interested in is jumping out of the tank. He is CONSTANTLY doing this and I can't figure out why. I tested the water levels and did a small 10-15% water change when I got back because my crappy hanging filter had turned itself off when I got back. Everything seemed in an acceptable range, with a slightly low Ph. Added some ph balancer, bought a canister filter yesterday and added that to my tank too.

I'm worried because he has never done this before until I came back, and I'm not sure what's causing his behavior. He ate some bloodworms fine but after putting some minnows in which he usually snatches right up, he wasn't interested in them. I had taken the driftwood out before I left for vacation and him and the knifefish went to another piece of decor. I put it back in last night hoping he would chill in there like he normally does but he's still trying to get out.

Thanks in advance. Please let me know if this is in the right section or not.

 

[kno4te]

What the ph of ur water prior to this? I would suggest 50% wc since ur nitrates/ammonia/nitrites were slightly low. That should help. Check the expiration of ur test kit. Or get a sample to ur lfs. Turn down ur lights. What kind of lungfish do u have? Some fish will frantically jump the tank when threatened by another fish. Drift wood can lower ph but slowly. A quick wc will fix that.

 

[Nick2Sick]

What the ph of ur water prior to this? I would suggest 50% wc since ur nitrates/ammonia/nitrites were slightly low. That should help. Check the expiration of ur test kit. Or get a sample to ur lfs. Turn down ur lights. What kind of lungfish do u have? Some fish will frantically jump the tank when threatened by another fish. Drift wood can lower ph but slowly. A quick wc will fix that.

I got the kit about a month ago and it's not close to the expiration, I haven't tested the ph since I got the kit but it was ~6.8 if i recall correctly. I'll try a larger water change, I'm good about keeping it changed and I use dechlorinater and Stabil every water change as well, usually doing 40% change every 5-6 days. I actually don't have a light for the aquarium yet so the whole time it's been my room light.

It's the african lungfish. He's a lot thicker than the ropefish but is around 8 inches while the rope is closer to 10 inches. The lungfish hasn't attacked the ropefish that I've seen other than nipping at him once or twice when the ropefish was swimming against his face. Didn't seem to hurt the ropefish either time that I could tell because the lunfish never got him in his mouth.

thanks for the input!

 

[kno4te]

Hopefully an extra wc will help out.