abnormal action of my tangs recently

[GrAhF11]

hi charles. im not sure if this is a problem. my tangs have been with me for atleast 8 months already. they dont have any disease or anything. all are fat and eating well. but recently, i see them go up the water and get air. i have several other fishes like percula firefishes wrasses etc but they dont do that. this was just recently. i dont think my waterflow is a factor because all parts of my tank got flow and this is just for my tangs only. does it have to do with my ph being low or something else? it is just strange for them to do that but other than that, they look normal.

[khuran]

post water parameters to help!

You might have low oxygenation because of lack of skimmer

[charlesr1958]

Check your ammonia level also, ammonia, even in very tiny amounts is very damaging to the gills of fish which might cause them to gasp air. Low pH could also be a factor as acids have the same damaging effects on their gills. As a precaution, try to increase the airation of the water with either an air pump/air stone or add an airline to the intake of a powerhead.

Charles

[GrAhF11]

yeah probably because of low ph and high acidity of my water. i have been using distilled water for top off eversince. i heard that distilled water is more on the acidic side. i should use baking soda for this?

[charlesr1958]

Need to check your alkalinity first, what is it?

Charles

[GrAhF11]

i just found out using api dkh testkit that my dkh is 6. it may be because of my nsw. checked the new nsw and it read 7. i also use distilled water for my top off which is i believe is also low in ph and dkh. i have yet to test my ph i still dont have the paper. but a friend told me its only 7.2-7.4. how do i correct this problem? thanks

[charlesr1958]

[naivete]

[GrAhF11]

[charlesr1958]