Quarintine tank pH help!

i have a naso tang and a kole tang in 2 separate 10 gal quarantine tanks. i originally just put them in the display with out qt them because there is nothing else in the tank expect for a watchman goby but they both have been showing signs of ich. The problem is the pH is high like 8.8 ish. How bad is this for the fish and what can i do to bring it down??! also how long will they have to stay in there before the ich and other parasites have run there life span in the display. Can the goby still host parasites even though he look very healthy?? thanks for the help and guidance in advance.

 

If the tang was put into the display tank, the goby is now exposed to the ick and should also be quarantined. The high pH can stress the fish out enough to kill it. Would will want to lower the pH of the tank by not using a pH buffer. (eeek I hate saying this, but it was suggested by my LFS before) You can also try using a SMALL amount of clean lemon juice to lower the pH. You should also lower the specific gravity of the QT to 1.019, as hyposalinity tends to deter ick from sticking to the fish. You can also try reef safe ick meds as well. The lifecycle of ick is about 6 weeks, so the show tank should remain unstocked for that time (or slightly more) to kill off the freefloating cells. Having a UV filter couldn't hurt either. Good luck with that, I hope your little guys make it ok.