so i've been doing really great with my water changes and all but it just boggles my mind that my tap water ph is at 7.2 but my tank water ph is at 8.8

oh ammonia 0.0 ppm
nitrite 0.0 ppm
nitrate 10 ppm
ph 8.8
filtration is fluval 204
tank 30gal oceanic cube
has been running for about 6 months

so anyways don't quite know what would make my ph jump like that. both goldies are doing okay just noticed some spots on my blue oranda's fins that werent looking so good and thought i would try some stuff for his fins but noticed my ph was out of wack and don't want mess the poor guy up.

Do you have a KH and GH test?

Let's do a test to see if we can figure out what's happening. draw up some tap water and let it sit out for a day, then test it again.

Is there fresh carbon in the filter?

What do the spots look like?

okay well lets see
kh is 300ppm
gh is also 300ppm
my testing kits only rates to 300ppm so if its higher than that i can't tell

lets see what else carbon needs to be changed soon probly a weekend project of mine

and white spots are at tips of caudal fin were rot has occured so its probly just a bacterial fungus but spots are not there anymore im still wondering if i should treat it. the rot has not advanced in days. nor has his buddy albert been showing any signs of distress. i would think albert was picking on him but its just the opposite even though albert is bigger.

well enough about my fishies i'll set some water out and see what i can come up with for tomorrow.

pH of 7.2 out of the tap with KH of 300ppm. Water that well buffered should have a pH closer to what you're seeing in the tank. Doesn't make sense unless there is LOTS of dissolved CO2 in the tap water. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is acidic. when it gasses out of the water, pH rises.

Are you on well water or city water?

The reason I asked about the carbon is that I've heard of some carbons raising pH. Doubt that's happening with your tank tho cuz of the high KH levels in your tap water will naturally result in a high pH.

As long as the tail adges don't look red or have white fuzzies, I'd just leave it alone. Happy water is the best medicine.

yeah im on city water
just made sure the tap water matches the tank and it does for kh and gh so its just the matter of tank says 8.8 and tap says 7.2 do you think i should try to adjust the ph or would i do more harm than good don't want to ph shock the fish with any sudden adjustments.

So did you leave some tap water sitting out? Did the pH rise?

I think as long as you don't do huge partial water changes, you should be fine. For larger partial water changes, letting the tap water sit out with an airstone in it should gas out CO2 and bring the pH up to the tank pH I'd bet.