The Promise of A Vaccine for Marine Ich, Cryptocaryon irritans
TARAS PLESKUN5 HOURS AGO
Marine Ich is one of the most prolific parasites in both the Reef Aquarium Hobby and Commercial Aquaculture. Cryptocaryon irritans is an obligate parasitic ciliate that can infect most marine fish taxa. Marine ich has a complex life cycle, which includes both active-infective stages (theronts) as well as storage-cyst stages (tomonts). These tomonts can persist for long periods of time waiting to be exposed to susceptible fish. This complex life cycle allows marine ich to spread amongst marine fish collected from the wild and rapidly propagate amongst fish held in distribution/wholesale facilities. This means that infected fish inevitably end up in local fish stores thus exposing the average home reef aquarium to this parasite.
Marine ich also has a habit of infecting commercial aquaculture nurseries, where concentrated young fish are exposed to wild sea water (either while in net pens or flow-through systems). When young fish are held in high densities and are stressed, mass outbreaks of marine ich can and will occur, resulting in thousands of dollars in early-stage production loss. In the reef aquarium, marine ich outbreaks can incur unacceptable levels of stress to priceless tangs and other ornamental fish, causing them to die directly of Cryptocaryoniasis or through secondary causes. Because of the persistent threat this parasite presents to reefers and aquaculturists alike, there has been a tremendous swell of effort placed into deriving a vaccine that could safeguard fish against infection. Over the last few decades, great advances have been made with these endeavors, though no single ‘one vaccine for all fish’ exists at this time.
For the whole article, including scientific reference materials (at end), please go to this thread:
The Promise of A Vaccine for Marine Ich, Cryptocaryon irritans | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog
Marine Ich is one of the most prolific parasites in both the Reef Aquarium Hobby and Commercial Aquaculture. Cryptocaryon irritans is an obligate parasitic ciliate that can infect most marine fish…
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