immunity to ich?

[ReefAnon]

My fish don't have ich but in reading about it in the past I've often seen references to fish building up immunity to if exposed and, therefore, fortifying their diet to help their immune system.

What puzzles me is how the immune system is related to parasite attack - if ich was a virus it would make more sense to me. Can anyone explain this to me?

BTW I do agree with fortifying diet, just don't fully understand it.

just curious...

[TerryB]

You are right that internal immune system function plays little part in resisting external parasites. The only real line of defense is the mucus/scale/skin barrier. Keeping the fish relatively stress free helps keep mucus production and other functions like healing at an optimum.
The role of the immune system in resisting external parasites is largerly over-emphasized by many. The fact of the matter is that ich can overcome perfectly healthy fish if found in sufficient density. The immune system plays a larger role in resisting viral or bacterial invasion. This is also true of other oppurtunisic or falcultative pathogens including some types of parasites. However, resistance plays a much smaller role against obligate pathogens such as Cryptocaryon irritans. There is some evidence that fish which have previously survived a challenge with Cryptocaryon have an increased resistance, but it is far from being complete immunity.
A good diet does not directly activate immune function. What is does do is help insure that the fish do not suffer from dietary deficiencies that would otherwise inhibit natural processes that are ongoing such as osmoregulation, healing, growth, digestion and mantianing normal homeostasis. This could get very complicated to explain. Take for example the fact that the gills play a huge part in four essential functions; osmoregulation, excreting amonia and toxic substance, acid/base balance and of course respiration. Dietary shortcomings can cause changes in the gill tissues making one or all of these four functions difficult.
Terry B

[joezkool]

I have a few observations to add. I am ver distrought after an ich breakout in my tank a while back. They day after I posted, my fish passed on one by one. In total, I lost 5 fish. First, my royal gramma, then one fire fish died, and its mate the next day. I have a bi-color blenny, who is missing. I never saw signs of ich, but he's gone now, nowhere to be found. I lost a mandarine goby too, but she died with a big white blotch on her tail, any ideas on that??? Anyhow, I posted because the only fish that I got left, are 2 perculas, a banggai, a mandarine goby, blue devil damsel, and a lantern bass. All but the lantern basslet are fish I cycled with, and had since day one. All are 100% healthy, except the lantern bass, who is my latest fish, who on & off has ich, but looks ok yet. It boggled my mind to notice that all my original fish, seem to be immune to the ich! They are all doing great, and in fact seem happier with less companions in the tank. I do love my fish tank, but I am bummed still about the deaths.

[TerryB]

Joe,

Lets start with the symptoms. Fish die for a lot of reasons other than ich. Some people call everything ich. Then how did you treat it? Ich is actually pretty easy to cure IF you follow ESTABLISHED protocal.
Terry B

[joezkool]

Well terry, I posted a while back with all the info. The white spots, itching on the rocks, the whole ich thing. I am not too experienced with salt water fish tanks, I've had mine for about 6 months. I feel I properly diagnosed an ich outbreak in my tank, with the help of the good people on this forum. I became alarmed when my Royal Gramma died, and suspected ich. I fed garlic for about 2 weeks, then noticed my lantern bass I just added got the same symptoms as my RG, and my fire fish were also itching on the rocks. Thats when I posted. I was going to go for the Q-tank, but I don't have a money tree in my back yard, so I needed to save for a tank, filter, sand, powerhead, lights, etc... (lotsa money). Not more then 24 hrs later did I find my sally lightfoot chewing on one of my firefish. The next morning, the second fire fish had passed. As for my bi-color blenny....never seen ich symptoms. He was doing fine, but he's missing!?!? The mandarine goby I bought was a female to join my male, which I got for $5 because she was skinny & not lookin good, so I took it upon myself to try to revive her. She lived about 1 month and died, and yes I do have lotsa pods for them. My fish are my pets and its a big loss to have them die on me. It has me bummed.