Otocinclus hiding after aquarium black out

[naluralstyletanks]

Hello all, a couple months ago I did a blackout on my aquarium to get ahead of some stubborn algae, now months later my previously highly active and social otos never come out during the day. I haven't changed anything else added and chemicals, the black out was the only changes factor for a few days. I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to get them back out, or if it's just time related. I have a move planed in the next couple months, and would hate for them to come out with time and then put a major stress on them again after a couple days and have to wait months again.
From what I've seen they look healthy, but they just act different and don't eat the algae out in the open.

 

[A201]

It's been quite a while since I kept Oto's. They don't survive particularly well in my local hard water.

My Oto's were always a bit reclusive, usually hiding behind stems & leaves.

You might hold off feeding for a couple of days so the Oto's will be good & hungry. Then get in a pattern of feeding only when the lights are on.

I'm assuming that you occasionally feed algae wafers.

 

[naluralstyletanks]

You might hold off feeding for a couple of days so the Oto's will be good & hungry. Then get in a pattern of feeding only when the lights are on.

I'm assuming that you occasionally feed algae wafers.

I have rather high stocking, and don't need to feed directly, rather I feed the tank as a whole with some flake, micro pellets, and sinking wafers across the whole tank in a somewhat high amount in correspondence to stocking amount to ensure every fish get food.

This is the same as when they were active and eating algae.

 

[A201]

As long as the Oto's continue to eat and otherwise act normally, things will likely get back to normal.

 

[naluralstyletanks]

As long as the Oto's continue to eat and otherwise act normally, things will likely get back to normal.

Ok, thanks for the help!

I also found your water hardness comment, I run on a interesting town water system, thats essentially stream/well water, which means that the hardness(which I haven't checked recently) could potentially fluctuate, I'll check this and then try to adjust the hardness if it's different.