Bacteria being used to help control Ich?

[ReefED!]

If you think Ich is a huge problem for us as hobbyists, the damage it does to commercial aquaculture dwarfs anything we experience.

As such, there is a lot of money being spent researching treatments and vaccines for Cryptocaryon Irritans - and we will certainly achieve breakthroughs there that will improve the hobby for us downstream.

For example, here's a paper regarding a specific bacteria that inhibits the ability for tomonts to become theronts

Transcriptome analysis of Cryptocaryon irritans tomont responding to Bacillus licheniformis treatment - PubMed

Cryptocaryon irritans is a ciliated obligate parasite that causes cryptocaryonosis (white spot disease) and poses great threat to marine fish farming. In recent years, the use of probiotics protects fish from pathogens, which has been identified as the sustainable and environmentally friendly...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[vetteguy53081]

If you think Ich is a huge problem for us as hobbyists, the damage it does to commercial aquaculture dwarfs anything we experience.

As such, there is a lot of money being spent researching treatments and vaccines for Cryptocaryon Irritans - and we will certainly achieve breakthroughs there that will improve the hobby for us downstream.

For example, here's a paper regarding a specific bacteria that inhibits the ability for tomonts to become theronts

Transcriptome analysis of Cryptocaryon irritans tomont responding to Bacillus licheniformis treatment - PubMed

Cryptocaryon irritans is a ciliated obligate parasite that causes cryptocaryonosis (white spot disease) and poses great threat to marine fish farming. In recent years, the use of probiotics protects fish from pathogens, which has been identified as the sustainable and environmentally friendly...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Ivee seen such experiments and yet to see them show eradication parasites.

 

[ReefED!]

Ivee seen such experiments and yet to see them show eradication parasites.

I doubt we'll see reef safe effective eradication treatments but we might see some multi-pronged management methods


What sucks about bacteria is that it might not play well with UV Sterilizers

 

[vetteguy53081]

I doubt we'll see reef safe effective eradication treatments but we might see some multi-pronged management methods


What sucks about bacteria is that it might not play well with UV Sterilizers

Yes- sterilizers and at times skimmers.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I doubt we'll see reef safe effective eradication treatments but we might see some multi-pronged management methods


What sucks about bacteria is that it might not play well with UV Sterilizers

The other issue with biological controls is that they often are out-competed by other species that don’t exhibit the tested-for control. I didn’t read the paper, but I suspect the study was done in vitro, excluding other bacteria.

 

[beesnreefs]

The other issue with biological controls is that they often are out-competed by other species that don’t exhibit the tested-for control. I didn’t read the paper, but I suspect the study was done in vitro, excluding other bacteria.

Nailed it @Jay Hemdal - looked at the paper and:

• The study was conducted in vitro with just tomonts and the bacteria
• The "dosage" of bacteria that fully inhibited hatching was MASSIVE (well beyond anything we'd ever put in a tank)
• No clue how this would work in a complex reef system, impact fish, etc....and the amount of bacteria necessary to replicate this in a tank would likely be impossibly large to dose (not to mention wreak havoc on the biome/oxygen/etc.)

Perhaps studies like this will eventually uncover biological compounds that inhibit/kill Cryptocaryon....and perhaps that will lead to some treatments down the road.

 

[MnFish1]

If you think Ich is a huge problem for us as hobbyists, the damage it does to commercial aquaculture dwarfs anything we experience.

As such, there is a lot of money being spent researching treatments and vaccines for Cryptocaryon Irritans - and we will certainly achieve breakthroughs there that will improve the hobby for us downstream.

For example, here's a paper regarding a specific bacteria that inhibits the ability for tomonts to become theronts

Transcriptome analysis of Cryptocaryon irritans tomont responding to Bacillus licheniformis treatment - PubMed

Cryptocaryon irritans is a ciliated obligate parasite that causes cryptocaryonosis (white spot disease) and poses great threat to marine fish farming. In recent years, the use of probiotics protects fish from pathogens, which has been identified as the sustainable and environmentally friendly...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

a paper such as this may very well be true - and yet doesn't help anything. What s your goal? I can probably find a paper suggesting the moon cycle affects Ich. The issue is- do any of the papers prevent flukes, velvet, etc

 

[ReefED!]

Nailed it @Jay Hemdal - looked at the paper and:

• The study was conducted in vitro with just tomonts and the bacteria
• The "dosage" of bacteria that fully inhibited hatching was MASSIVE (well beyond anything we'd ever put in a tank)
• No clue how this would work in a complex reef system, impact fish, etc....and the amount of bacteria necessary to replicate this in a tank would likely be impossibly large to dose (not to mention wreak havoc on the biome/oxygen/etc.)

Perhaps studies like this will eventually uncover biological compounds that inhibit/kill Cryptocaryon....and perhaps that will lead to some treatments down the road.

A lot of these things won't turn into anything useful in a practical application, but the commercial industry is driving a lot of research - we may get to benefit from that sometime soon, which is exciting to me.