Aquabiome DNA test positive for Myxozoa, Now what?

[ReefHog]

Before adding fish to my DT, I always treat and QT them for a month to observe. Recently I have been getting a @AquaBiomics DNA test done at the end of the observation. On my last batch of two fish, the report showed positive for moxozoa. I know DNA is sometimes tricky as it doesn't always mean there is an active parasite present. Not much out there except that it's not treatable. The fish are a flasher wrasse and diamond goby. Looks like it needs both fish and invertebrates to reproduce but bristle worms seem to tic the invertebrate box and I'm sure there are plenty of those in my aquariums. So now not sure what to do? Is this something that can/will spread to other fish if I were to add the possible infected fish to the DT? Any experience on this one @Jay Hemdal

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Before adding fish to my DT, I always treat and QT them for a month to observe. Recently I have been getting a @AquaBiomics DNA test done at the end of the observation. On my last batch of two fish, the report showed positive for moxozoa. I know DNA is sometimes tricky as it doesn't always mean there is an active parasite present. Not much out there except that it's not treatable. The fish are a flasher wrasse and diamond goby. Looks like it needs both fish and invertebrates to reproduce but bristle worms seem to tic the invertebrate box and I'm sure there are plenty of those in my aquariums. So now not sure what to do? Is this something that can/will spread to other fish if I were to add the possible infected fish to the DT? Any experience on this one @Jay Hemdal

Sorry - I don’t know. Myxozoans are obligate parasites, but are virtually unknown in aquarium fish….we know they infect many fish, but we can’t diagnose them. The diseases known, like whirling disease, are known from gamefish as they are better studied.
Some (many?) Myxozoans don’t cause visible disease. I would say if you are not seeing disease symptoms in the fish, this is just an incidental finding. You might ask the company how often they see these in their aquarium samples.
Jay

 

[MnFish1]

Here is a nice article. It appears there is not much to do since there is no treatment. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FA201

 

[MnFish1]

And a couple newer ones with treatment suggestions:

Myxozoan fish diseases: possible treatment and zoonoses - PubMed

Myxozoan parasites pose huge threat to wild and cultured fishes and reported to cause heavy mortality, retarded growth and post-harvest quality degradation. It is one of the highly divergent groups of parasites which infects skin, gill, muscle, cartilage and internal organs of host fish and the...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

(PDF) Fumagillin, an efficacious drug against renal ...ResearchGatehttps://www.researchgate.net › publication › 230578854...

 

[ReefHog]

Sorry - I don’t know. Myxozoans are obligate parasites, but are virtually unknown in aquarium fish….we know they infect many fish, but we can’t diagnose them. The diseases known, like whirling disease, are known from gamefish as they are better studied.
Some (many?) Myxozoans don’t cause visible disease. I would say if you are not seeing disease symptoms in the fish, this is just an incidental finding. You might ask the company how often they see these in their aquarium samples.
Jay

If I'm reading the report (above) correctly, it looks like less than 1% of the sequences matched the source. Not confident I understand what this means. I assume this refers to sequences done on my sample but to what exactly is the source referring? So my level is either very very low or very very high

The percentile seems to suggest that 80% of samples taken had less of the parasite DNA found. I'm guessing this is based on samples from all aquarist that have sent in water samples for testing. So this suggests that it doesn't show up on most samples.

Then there is the prevalence. This states that only 2.49% of samples taken show the parasite DNA. Very low number suggests that it is very uncommon.

I have an email sent to them inquiring how often it shows up and what the percentages mean exactly as well as the exact species/genus. I know they are slow responding so waiting to see what they have to say.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

If I'm reading the report (above) correctly, it looks like less than 1% of the sequences matched the source. Not confident I understand what this means. I assume this refers to sequences done on my sample but to what exactly is the source referring? So my level is either very very low or very very high

The percentile seems to suggest that 80% of samples taken had less of the parasite DNA found. I'm guessing this is based on samples from all aquarist that have sent in water samples for testing. So this suggests that it doesn't show up on most samples.

Then there is the prevalence. This states that only 2.49% of samples taken show the parasite DNA. Very low number suggests that it is very uncommon.

I have an email sent to them inquiring how often it shows up and what the percentages mean exactly as well as the exact species/genus. I know they are slow responding so waiting to see what they have to say.

Let’s wait to hear what they have to say. Like with any emerging technology, it may not be clear how to interpret things.

Jay

 

[ReefHog]

I’ll update as soon as I hear from them.

 

[ReefHog]

Let’s wait to hear what they have to say. Like with any emerging technology, it may not be clear how to interpret things.

Jay

So unfortunately the reply (below) I got was not what I had hoped for. Basically what I would consider an "auto" reply since the link in the reply leads to a discussion on marine Ich, the links in the referred links in the reports are just a Wikipedia page and my question about the exact species was not even addressed.

The two fish, flasher wrasse and diamond goby, have been doing great since day one and have never shown any sign of disease. They've been in the observation for 10 weeks. I've read that many species are host specific and many times the fish are not negatively affected. There's always the outside chance that it came in on live black worms which I was feeding at the time the DNA sample was taken. I only have two systems with fish and one is a large predator reef in which they would not make it. I'm thinking I'll add them to the originally intended sps reef and hold my breath for the next six months.

"Hi Art,

This is explained here https://humble.fish/community/index...reased-sensitivity-in-our-tankdna-test.16682/

About the increased sensitivity in our tankDNA test or, "What do you mean you found Ich in my tank??" Several clients have noticed that our tankDNA test has been finding Ich in more tanks than before. I've heard some concerns about this, and hope to address them here. Starting at the beginning of 2023 we introduced an additional cleanup step in... humble.fish

All that we know about the microbiome, parasites, and pathogens are listed/linked in the reports.

Thanks and have a great week,"

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So unfortunately the reply (below) I got was not what I had hoped for. Basically what I would consider an "auto" reply since the link in the reply leads to a discussion on marine Ich, the links in the referred links in the reports are just a Wikipedia page and my question about the exact species was not even addressed.

The two fish, flasher wrasse and diamond goby, have been doing great since day one and have never shown any sign of disease. They've been in the observation for 10 weeks. I've read that many species are host specific and many times the fish are not negatively affected. There's always the outside chance that it came in on live black worms which I was feeding at the time the DNA sample was taken. I only have two systems with fish and one is a large predator reef in which they would not make it. I'm thinking I'll add them to the originally intended sps reef and hold my breath for the next six months.

"Hi Art,

This is explained here https://humble.fish/community/index...reased-sensitivity-in-our-tankdna-test.16682/

About the increased sensitivity in our tankDNA test or, "What do you mean you found Ich in my tank??" Several clients have noticed that our tankDNA test has been finding Ich in more tanks than before. I've heard some concerns about this, and hope to address them here. Starting at the beginning of 2023 we introduced an additional cleanup step in... humble.fish

All that we know about the microbiome, parasites, and pathogens are listed/linked in the reports.

Thanks and have a great week,"

Well, that was decidedly unhelpful. Are they saying they can't interpret their own results?

Jay

 

[ReefHog]

Well, that was decidedly unhelpful. Are they saying they can't interpret their own results?

Jay

Yes. Especially at $100 a test. I followed up reiterating that the parasite dna was moxyzoa and that I’d like to know if they identified a specific species. Not holding my breath.

 

[IrezumiHurts]

Did you ever get resolution?

One of my tanks tested psoitive for Myxozoa also