Progress on Vaccine for 'Ich'

For now you will still have to QT fish, give them garlic enriched food, and hope they pull through. Soon there could be a vaccine to prevent ich in your little (or big) fishy friend(s).

QT of newly acquired livestock for an appropriate length of time would still seem a good idea in hopes of preventing the spread of ich as well as other ailments to established livestock.

At least they are working toward a vaccine which is good news for many people...well really it's good news for our fish friends.

Progress on Vaccine for 'Ich,' Bane of Fish Farms and Home Aquarium Hobbyists

ScienceDaily (Aug. 26, 2010) — Tests of the potential vaccine against "Ich" ― the dreaded "white-spot" disease that plagues fish in commercial fish farms, public aquariums, pet fish retail outlets, and home aquariums ― are raising hopes for finally controlling the disease, scientists reported at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

"Outbreaks of the parasitic disease caused by Ichthyophthirius (Ich) can result in losses of 50-100 percent of fish," Dehai Xu, Ph.D., said in presenting the results. "The disease is very common, and almost every home fish hobbyist has encountered it. Once the parasite infects fish, and starts growing in the skin, fins, and gills, there is no really effective treatment. Ich causes losses estimated at $50 million annually. It would be much better to prevent the disease."

As an indication of the difficulty in treating Ich outbreaks, Xu used the example of an infection that strikes a commercial fish farming pond, which might have a surface area equal to 10 or 20 high school football fields. The typical treatment involves pouring in a solution of formaldehyde, a potentially toxic substance. Hundreds of gallons might be needed, and farmers might have to repeat the treatment several times. Even after treatment, the fish would be at risk of reinfection if they encountered the parasite again, he said.

"To vaccinate against Ich, you would need much less medication, and it would not pose an apparent threat to the environment," Xu pointed out. "And you would need just one treatment to make the fish immune for life."

Xu explained that efforts to develop an Ich vaccine have focused on use of so-called "trophonts," which are the infective stage of the Ich parasite's life cycle. Trophonts burrow into a fish's skin, fins, and gills, causing the white skin spots characteristic of the disease. Those efforts have been hindered, however, by gaps in scientific knowledge about how fish develop protective immunity to trophonts. Xu and colleagues, Drs. Phillip Klesius and Craig Shoemaker, who are with the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Auburn, Al., set out to fill those gaps.

Their study evaluated influence of vaccine formulation and doses of vaccine on protective immunity of channel catfish against Ich. The results showed that vaccination with live Ich theronts and trophonts killed with high-frequency sound waves stimulated production of protective antibodies in the catfish.

"This study demonstrated that vaccines against Ich induced protective immunity and could provide a unique solution to prevent this parasitic disease through vaccination," Xu said. "An Ich vaccine would have great impact by preventing the disease, minimizing loss of valuable fish and increasing profitability of aquaculture."

Xu noted that the study was a small, laboratory-scale endeavor, with unsolved problems on the road ahead to a commercial vaccine. One, for instance, involves producing a large quantity of Ich antigen for the vaccine and then formulating a vaccine that can be easily administered to large numbers of fish in a "bath" or in food, rather than by injection. In the bath approach, fish would be kept in a container or an enclosure with water containing the vaccine. This study is within the component of ARS National Program 106-"Aquaculture" to improve health and welfare of aquatic animals. Xu and colleagues hope their study will bring more attention to the research to combat this disease. study was a small, laboratory-scale endeavor, with unsolved problems on the road ahead to a commercial vaccine. One, for instance, involves producing a large quantity of Ich antigen for the vaccine and then formulating a vaccine that can be easily administered to large numbers of fish in a "bath" or in food, rather than by injection. In the bath approach, fish would be kept in a container or an enclosure with water containing the vaccine. This study is within the component of ARS National Program 106-"Aquaculture" to improve health and welfare of aquatic animals. Xu and colleagues hope their study will bring more attention to the research to combat this disease.

ok, what about natural selection? if we solve ich then something else moves up, flukes?

why do you have to bring up natural selection - that always ruins a good immunity/medicine/vaccine story!!

It is not in human nature to accept natural selection. Many of us would not be around as modern medicine and vaccines have saved countless lives.

I won't dive into whether it is right or wrong (which would only be opinion anyway) to side step the natural course of life but rather will only state that it is what we as a species do.

I think it would be pretty cool to be able to prevent these parasites from killing off our fish ... though I'd also need an awful lot of evidence (a few years worth at least) proving it's safe for all and it works....but neat article!

I know, its just another way to trick people into thinking I have intelligence, can't fool all the people all the time huh?

Originally Posted by estanoche

why do you have to bring up natural selection - that always ruins a good immunity/medicine/vaccine story!!

Originally Posted by techguy

It is not in human nature to accept natural selection. Many of us would not be around as modern medicine and vaccines have saved countless lives.

I won't dive into whether it is right or wrong (which would only be opinion anyway) to side step the natural course of life but rather will only state that it is what we as a species do.

you just wait until Frankenfish bites your a@@, you'll sing another story then by gum!

Originally Posted by high tide

you just wait until Frankenfish bites your a@@, you'll sing another story then by gum!

Oh you mean this guy...



Genetically engineered fish. Frankly (no pun intended) I am not one to add anything in a tank aside from adding the freshly mixed water. There are exceptions though I would not take them lightly. So would I add this vaccine for my fish? Probably not becuase I truly believe one can buy healthy fish and QT everything for a good amount of time which will avoid any need for this.

I can certainly understand why others would use this if it were available though.

I agree, fish farms are a joke, lets see if we can stop ich so we can cram even more of them in there, surely "aids island" and feeding night deaths back to the herd is a good reason to leave this alone?

I wonder if this will be for both fresh and marine? The article mentions the species of ich as "Ichthyophthirius" which must be freshwater because afaik marine ich is "cryptocaryon irritans".

Going out on a limb here, but vaccines are for viruses not parasites...

You also can't vaccinate something effectively if they have been infected by the virus.

Thirdly, I am under the train of thought that all fish express diseases such as ich while under stress. As you decrease the amount of stress, and take care of them by improving their current conditions, this parasite, is basically not an issue. From my experience at least.

So either we get rid of one parasite that is expressed when a fish is stressed, or we take better care of the fish

Thoughts?

Most vaccines are for viruses, but you can make a vaccine for anything that the body produces an acquired immune response for. For example there are vaccines against the plague and Lyme disease bacteria and you can even get your dog vaccinated against rattlesnake venom. We know that fish acquire resistance to both FW and SW ich after exposure, and in FW ich the mechanism is fairly well studied, so we know that vaccines should work against both parasites (EDIT: but not the same vaccine for both).

Thirdly, I am under the train of thought that all fish express diseases such as ich while under stress. As you decrease the amount of stress, and take care of them by improving their current conditions, this parasite, is basically not an issue. From my experience at least.

No. Perfectly healthy, happy fish can be infected with ich (when people study ich, they're looking at otherwise healthy, un-stressed fish). Stress can make outbreaks more severe, but simply avoiding stress won't prevent or cure infection if the parasite is present. Also, while it might be simple enough to provide a low-stress environment once the fish is settled into a consumer's aquarium, that's really not possible during the chain of custody from ocean to aquarium.

huh.........I didn't know about vaccines for other parasites greenbeans......very interesting to say the least .......good insight on the fish stress too....I think we all like to think we're doing the best we can to keep our fish happy and many of us also think it will prevent an ich outbreak...but if you really think about it I guess we can't in this hobby