Why there is not really a cure for ich?

[Falcon53]

Why after all this years of research and development there is not a single cure against ich or velvet? Why isn't there a medication that can be taking by the fish?

Could it be that if there is a final cure to it the fish trading market could take a huge hit from sales?

Also the ammount of snake oils ripping everyone and not getting any false advertising accusations gets me to think that enterprises benefits more from the harm than the cure.

I want to know why is your opinion on this.

Like others have said, the cure is copper.

If you are asking for a reef safe cure, this is akin to asking why there isn't a cure for the common cold that we can spray into the atmosphere without killing anything else. Our reefs are complex ecosystems with a lot of different life. What you are asking for is a solution to an extremely complex problem that is probably not going to happen.

Want to know a very simple solution to this extremely complex problem? Proper QT. But many are too lazy to do it.

This hobby is full of people that kill fish constantly without ich. I doubt a cure for ich would impact the sales of fish much at all. Reducing inventory death would be far more beneficial to the industry.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

I always use Microlifts Herbtana. always works for me, and its reefsafe. cured many a fish with that.

How long have you been using this? Have you seen any reappearance of infections cause according to they info it don’t totally get rid of the problem it just maintains it at a level that the fish can live with

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Why after all this years of research and development there is not a single cure against ich or velvet? Why isn't there a medication that can be taking by the fish?
...
I want to know why is your opinion on this.

Speaking as someone who does drug discovery for a living, the primary reason is the market is not big enough to justify the development expense. Second is complexity of the reef environment (which goes back to specificity and hence cost).

Folks have been throwing out numbers like millions of dollars market size. Even if true, that not enough. Not nearly enough, unless all you are doing is trying out existing drugs to see if they work. Assuming they do not, a project to treat a new parasite is very, very costly.

As an example, malaria is a parasite too. The CDC says that in 2016 there were 216 million cases of malaria worldwide and 445,000 people died.

445,000 people died from this parasite!

Unfortunately, many of those people cannot pay for treatment. That limits the research that gets done. Still, a HUGE amount was done relative to what can be justified for fish. The world malaria report says:

"Spending on research and development for malaria was estimated at US$ 611 million in 2014 (the latest year for which data are available)"​

$611 million a year for many years, and no definitive treatment.

Drug discovery is VERY hard!

 

[Reef Stu]

This is a little off subject but... they have figured a way to Essentially wipeout malaria by wiping out mosquitoes. Not with poison or anything like that, but through genetically engineered mosquitoes that die very early in their life cycle, before they can reproduce (”Dead end Mosquito”). They tested the theory on one of the Cayman Islands. Supposedly it killed 99% of all the mosquitoes in a short time. Apparently the only reason it’s not put into effect is because mosquitoes are important in the food chain, and it is hard to know how much of the animal population will be affected. Perhaps that could be our answer for the parasite that we call Ich. They also did this for a worm/moth that was decimating cotton fields. It would be wonderful if you could just release a strand of Ich in your take that would take out the whole population.

 

[Gil03]

FWIW I've had ich in my tank about 4 times in the last 5 years some instances were really bad with my tangs head to toe and haven't lost a single fish dosing in my reef with Medic and ordinary feedings. Call it snake oil if you want but my previous 10 years in the hobby prior my death rate was high when dealing with ich.

 

[Newb73]

FWIW I've had ich in my tank about 4 times in the last 5 years some instances were really bad with my tangs head to toe and haven't lost a single fish dosing in my reef with Medic and ordinary feedings. Call it snake oil if you want but my previous 10 years in the hobby prior my death rate was high when dealing with ich.

I am sure someone might tell me i am wrong but i have a theory that some of these snake oils act like carbon dosing, stimulate a bacterial bloom which then simply out competes the parasites for food sources, physical space, and cover the fish in healthy fauna which gives them some protection against the larger parasites. (Yet another reason why new tanks have more dz than established ones and why overly sterile, overly clean tanks are also prone to disaster)

I tried a snake oil remedy once and not only did it seem to help the fish, it also really stimulated polyp extension, zoa growth and greatly reduced cyano.

The only explanation i could think of was that it acted like a carbon source.

I considered incorporating it as a monthly tx...lol.

 

[Sarah24!]

I don’t disagree w you. However, if my tank has always been set at 78 and I raise it almost ten degrees instantly, yes things will die. Look what happens to grass on a hot hot day if it doesn’t have water and it’s sudden. Every tank is different, yours may work awesome at your temp, mine however won’t. Now if I start a new tank and my base temp is 82 to 83 maybe it will work. But, if ick is going to kill my fish, then it may yes. But I would rather lose a fish then my entire tank.