A huge neglected frontier in reefkeeping

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Each liter of natural seawater contains a billion bacteria.

Reef keepers prattle on endlessly about good and bad bacteria.

Each liter of natural seawater contains ten times that many viruses.

When was the last time a reef keeper asked whether any of those trillions of viruses in their aquarium might be contributing to the problems they are experiencing?

There's no easy answer to this issue. We can barely get a handle on a handful of human pathogenic viruses. Perhaps that's why it's not discussed much, but that doesn't mean it isn't playing a large role in reef aquaria.

How would we even know?

There is a constant stream of folks with problems that might be viruses. But there are no tests and no solutions.

Is ignorance bliss? Not to the guy who loses his prized organism for unknown reasons.

 

[Dburr1014]

Each liter of natural seawater contains a billion bacteria.

Reef keepers prattle on endlessly about good and bad bacteria.

Each liter of natural seawater contains ten times that many viruses.

When was the last time a reef keeper asked whether any of those trillions of viruses in their aquarium might be contributing to the problems they are experiencing?

There's no easy answer to this issue. We can barely get a handle on a handful of human pathogenic viruses. Perhaps that's why it's not discussed much, but that doesn't mean it isn't playing a large role in reef aquaria.

How would we even know?

There is a constant stream of folks with problems that might be viruses. But there are no tests and no solutions.

Is ignorance bliss? Not to the guy who loses his prized organism for unknown reasons.

Mind blown!

Right.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

For those that use natural sea water for their tanks, is their system have a “better immune system”?

 

[Sirlagzalott]

"Curtis Suttle from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver compared the number of viruses in the oceans alone to the number of stars in the Universe, which is estimated to be 1023. Viruses outnumber stars by a factor of 10 million. If you lined them all up, that line would be 10 million light years long!"

There Are More Viruses on Earth Than There Are Stars in the Universe

And yes, they’re alive.

www.smithsonianmag.com

 

[DaJMasta]

Until the test methodology is developed, it's going to be near impossible to know. They're not observable short of an SEM (and even then, not in incredible detail), and the testing done to identify them now is either genetic sequencing or is based on the antibody response, and both are costly to administer (or develop) and which we have next to no database of what's out there and what it effects unless it deals directly with humans (or the occasional terrestrial species.)


Until environmental DNA sequencing becomes cheap enough to be done commercially like with an ICP, this is beyond the next frontier. The fragment identification tests that make genetic testing accessible for humans simply couldn't be usefully developed with the current catalog and understanding of marine viruses.


That all said, viruses are fragile. I'll bet if you did an analysis of how many free floating viruses there were in a tank, tanks with a UV or ozone system would probably not have a high concentration. In fact, since the genetic diversity of one of our tanks is a lot lower than a natural reef, it may be that in relatively short order our tanks house a lower than normal population because of lack of hosts or local population developed immunity.

I also wonder if it would be that useful - most of the viruses that exist aren't for macroorganisms, so how important is it to know about the viruses that are effecting your tank's bacterial population? At least until we have a better understanding of those bacteria, probably not very.

 

[Jmp998]

? Viruses that infect bacteria (phages) and alter the bacterial biome of the tank

?Viruses that directly infect coral

Probably both are important, but I don't think it is likely that the resources needed for even a basic understanding will ever be available. Even more so, dedicating the resources to develop some sort of practical diagnostics and targeted antivirals that would let us do anything about viral pathogens in an aquarium are even more unlikely.

It is a fascinating topic for sure, but I think from a practical standpoint it is only of theoretical interest.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

For those that use natural sea water for their tanks, is their system have a “better immune system”?

Might be worse?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I also wonder if it would be that useful - most of the viruses that exist aren't for macroorganisms, so how important is it to know about the viruses that are effecting your tank's bacterial population? At least until we have a better understanding of those bacteria, probably not very.

Viruses of a key coral symbiont exhibit temperature-driven productivity across a reefscape - ISME Communications

Viruses can affect coral health by infecting their symbiotic dinoflagellate partners (Symbiodiniaceae). Yet, viral dynamics in coral colonies exposed to environmental stress have not been studied at the reef scale, particularly within individual viral lineages. We sequenced the viral major...

www.nature.com

Viruses of a key coral symbiont exhibit temperature-driven productivity across a reefscape​

"Viruses can affect coral health by infecting their symbiotic dinoflagellate partners (Symbiodiniaceae). Yet, viral dynamics in coral colonies exposed to environmental stress have not been studied at the reef scale, particularly within individual viral lineages. "

 

[MrPike]

Would a Uv sterilizer obliterate these viruses? Slow flow or fast?

 

[Reefering1]

Would a Uv sterilizer obliterate these viruses? Slow flow or fast?

And if so, is this desirable? Is it possible that these viruses keep other parasites/pest in check?

 

[Sean_B]

Each liter of natural seawater contains a billion bacteria.

that is truly amazing

How would we even know?

the evidence might not be entirely conclusive, but uncomplicated reasoning might suggest "if it works, that's proof"

Might be worse?

it might be worse if all the variables associated with "natural seawater" become unsustainable.
if organisms are subjected to sterile environments, they might fare well until a common bacteria is introduced?

 

[taricha]

At small scales the intentional introduction of phages (viruses that kill particular bacteria) has been used against bacterial pathogens causing coral disease.

Phage therapy treatment of the coral pathogen Vibrio coralliilyticus

Is it ready to be useful? I don't think it's close. That paper was 2013 and there hasn't really been a flood of progress on that front since (judging by the dates on the papers.)

I think the hobby would respond pretty positively to alternatives to widespread use of antibiotic medications.

 

[DaJMasta]

Would a Uv sterilizer obliterate these viruses? Slow flow or fast?

Fast. UV sterilization dosage requirements go up with organism size and complexity, so viruses would be at the very bottom of the requirements.

Also worth mentioning that public aquaria and growing facilities that use natural seawater generally sterilize it - if they only did very fine filtration (think diatom filters) it's likely some viruses would get through, but nearly any amount of UV would eliminate/inactivate them.

Hobby tanks using natural seawater wouldn't get that, generally, and would get the full viral load, but my assumption that the pollution involved with near-shore collection of the water would probably have a more significant effect - hard to effectively say in either way.

I think it would be interesting to see how introduction of specimens from different locations around the world and aquaculture facilities would effect the virus load of the tank. At least presumably, a lot of viruses would die out in captivity because their specific hosts aren't ones that live in captivity well or which get outcompeted in our closed systems, but the evolutionary speed of viruses is so fast because of their simplicity and potential for broad infection, so it's quite likely that a tank operating for as little as a few years to have some of their own genetically specific strains existing in their systems, and for larger operations that have been at it for longer, maybe substantially different strains.

Bacterial colonies also can share immunity between cells, so it's possible that in a closed system, individual virus strains may dieout faster than in the wild even when their preferred host is well represented. It's a complex and only basically understood world at those scales, it's encouraging to see some studies relating to coral and their symbiotes, though.

 

[mtfish]

Might be worse?

I use natural sea water for my 430 gallon tank. I know I get all the good and all the nasties when it comes to virus. But I would be more concerned from a virus I got from a frag I bought from someone than I am of all the virus in my water. Reason being the frag had a virus that affects coral. As someone mentioned before in this thread, a virus needs very specific conditions to carry its rna forward. I bet even the intensity of lighting in some of the tanks with heavy SPS could kill many of these virus.

Edit: Just saw that DajMasta posted some thoughts just before this post and bring up some similar thoughts as mine.

 

[Tom.E]

Aren't viruses bacteria strain specific?

 

[LARedstickreefer]

My Aqua Ultraviolet sterlizier - “Hold my beer”

 

[Dan_P]

Each liter of natural seawater contains a billion bacteria.

Reef keepers prattle on endlessly about good and bad bacteria.

Each liter of natural seawater contains ten times that many viruses.

When was the last time a reef keeper asked whether any of those trillions of viruses in their aquarium might be contributing to the problems they are experiencing?

There's no easy answer to this issue. We can barely get a handle on a handful of human pathogenic viruses. Perhaps that's why it's not discussed much, but that doesn't mean it isn't playing a large role in reef aquaria.

How would we even know?

There is a constant stream of folks with problems that might be viruses. But there are no tests and no solutions.

Is ignorance bliss? Not to the guy who loses his prized organism for unknown reasons.

Prattle about good and bad bacteria? Them fightin’ words where I come from

I think the aquarist represents the largest threat to life in an aquarium, the only threat these organisms kept in glass cages have not evolved to contend with. The virus threat is likely minuscule in comparison to poor nutrition, unnatural conditions, and overcrowding in aquaria.

If there is prattling going on, it is about using chemical oxidizers to cure everything in the aquarium

 

[King Reef]

Excerpt on findings of viruses being eaten

In a series of experiments in the lab, the researchers examined how a range of these non-host marine organisms fared at removing viral particles from their aquatic environment – either via active predation, or via passive mechanisms, such as filter feeders and organisms that create physical barriers between viral parasites and their hosts.

Of the 10 different animal species tested, crabs, cockles, oysters, and sponges turned out to be the most effective at reducing viral abundance.

"In our experiments, the sponges reduced the presence of viruses by up to 94 percent within three hours," Welsh explains, although after a full 24 hours, that figure reached even 98 percent virus removal.

"Another experiment showed that the uptake of viruses happens indeed very quickly and effectively. Even if we offered new viruses to the water every 20 minutes, the sponges remained tremendously effective in removing viruses."

Ocean Creatures Have Been Protecting Us From Millions of Viruses This Entire Time

It's fair to say that the world has had more than enough of viruses right now.

www.sciencealert.com

 

[Peter Houde]

Would a Uv sterilizer obliterate these viruses? Slow flow or fast?

Viruses are very fragile. The genetic material of most is single stranded RNA, which is nowhere near as stable as DNA. Most cannot remain viable outside of their hosts for very long.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Excerpt on findings of viruses being eaten

In a series of experiments in the lab, the researchers examined how a range of these non-host marine organisms fared at removing viral particles from their aquatic environment – either via active predation, or via passive mechanisms, such as filter feeders and organisms that create physical barriers between viral parasites and their hosts.

Of the 10 different animal species tested, crabs, cockles, oysters, and sponges turned out to be the most effective at reducing viral abundance.

"In our experiments, the sponges reduced the presence of viruses by up to 94 percent within three hours," Welsh explains, although after a full 24 hours, that figure reached even 98 percent virus removal.

"Another experiment showed that the uptake of viruses happens indeed very quickly and effectively. Even if we offered new viruses to the water every 20 minutes, the sponges remained tremendously effective in removing viruses."

Ocean Creatures Have Been Protecting Us From Millions of Viruses This Entire Time

It's fair to say that the world has had more than enough of viruses right now.

www.sciencealert.com

Just to add to this, not all sponge species are that effective, but they're still pretty good at removal (20.4% on the low end of average for a different species than the one discussed in your reference; the scientific article for your reference is the second link in the quote below):

I haven't been able to find any info indicating that they eat dinoflagellates (which is actually kind of surprising to me), but they do eat diatoms, bacteria, and even viruses.*

*Sources (for virus feeding/removal - the diatoms and bacteria I can show in other papers if wanted):

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240845694_Virus_predation_by_sponges_is_a_new_nutrient-flow_pathway_in_coral_reef_food_webs

Marine virus predation by non-host organisms - Scientific Reports

Viruses are the most abundant biological entities in marine environments, however, despite its potential ecological implications, little is known about virus removal by ambient non-host organisms. Here, we examined the effects of a variety of non-host organisms on the removal of viruses. The...

www.nature.com