Hello, well i recently added a piece of driftwood to my tank for the benefit of my rubbernosed plec. From my understanding, driftwood has a tendancy to make pH drop. So i started to test my pH to see if there were any changes (i know i shoulda been testing pH before this, shame on me!) Well i came up with a pH of 9.0 which is a definatly on the high end. So i did a water change and tested again the next day and yet again got a reading of 9.0. So finally i tested my tap water and it too has a reading of 9.0 . Now i understand that stablility is generally more important than the actual number, but i was wondering if it was harmful to my fish to have such a high pH? Also isn't that a pretty high pH for tap water? Thanks for any help!

You are right - stable pH is more important than a certain number, unless of course it would drop below the 6.8 line. Which we don't have to worry about in your case.
The driftwood might not be doing anything for your water for a few reasons: 1. It may be too small of a piece in comparison to your tank size to do anything at all. 2. It might have been sealed in order to prevent it from leaching out any pH dropping particles. 3. Your water is so rock hard (high in kH and gH) that all the driftwood in the world won't do anything at all.
As to the question if its harmful to your fish, that also depends on a few scenarios.... If your tank is established, and there isn't any readings of ammonia (like there would be during cycling process), than a high pH reading isn't bad. If you would have ammonia in your tank due to either overstocking, a cycling filter or crashing of beneficial bacteria due to medication, then it would be something to worry about. Ammonia is much more toxic in higher pH than it would be in the ideal range of 7.2-7.6.
We have naturally high pH in our water for the last 1 1/2 years now, and my fish are doing just fine in it. Do you have a test kit for ammonia to put your worries at ease?

Thanks for the reply! Well as for the driftwood i'm pretty sure it hasn't been sealed at all. I did soak it for a couple of weeks and boil it for a couple of hours to avoid it turning my water brown. My tank has been fully cycled for about a year now. Over stocking isn't an issue atm 'cause i have 3x4" orandas and a 3" telescope in a 120gal. I can't test the kH & gH since the test kit i have come with that bottle being empty, so i'll have to go pick up another one. But i do test for ammonia on a regular basis and haven't had any detectable levels in over a year. So if the pH won't be harmful to my fish i guess imma just leave it alone instead of messing with the water chem.

One last question: One of my orandas was a rescue and had a touch of fin rot when i got him. I tried quarantining him and salting to .3 but i can't seem to beat the fin rot. Is it possible that the high pH is making it so it won't heal? Thanks again!