[leebca]

Some Info:
The marine fish immune response straddles between the higher organisms (mammals) and crustaceans. It is similar in some respects to mammalian immunity, but not very good.

For instance, fish can be immunized, but the immunity only lasts a few months to a couple of years. Fish immunization is used to some limited extent in the food fish industry, but it has the above mentioned limitation.

A defense is an innate immunity, not specific to the invading protein. This is primarily contained in the fish's mucous membrane. Systemic immunity does exist, specific to invading proteins and some lipids, but varies in quality between species and even within a given species.

Some opinion:
I am again bothered by people making statements that their fish are not infected with Marine Ich when all they mean and can say is that they don't see it on the fish. Marine Ich parasites are invisible to the human eye. MOST of these parasites reside in the gills.

I've done enough postmortems to know that fish owners who think their fish were free of Marine Ich were absolutely wrong about that.

Second is the mis-concept that, "My fish is infected but is doing alright." What an excuse to allow the fish to be ill or to go through cycles of sickness or for that matter, never ever recovering, just not displaying the disease! Shame on us.

Would that excuse be okay for human illness? Well grandma looks okay even though she has pneumonia, let's not give her meds or take her to the hospital. Give her chicken soup.

Our fish don't talk to us, and humans need to remember they don't know what the fish feels or knows is okay or not okay. It's like a very young child. Often they look fine, but a parent senses when the child is sick, though their general behavior looks 'normal' to an outsider. The difference here is that hobbyists don't know what is normal or abnormal for the fish and have no sense of whether the fish is bothered or happy or sad (all human traits).

How often have I asked a hobbyist why they think their fish is 'happy' and the most common reply is that the fish swims around, in and out of their landscaping. Gee wiz! Guess Blennies that sit in one place for many minutes on end must not be happy. Heavens, Rock fish must really be unhappy -- they lie in wait for food for hours. Then are Lionfishes not happy?

The term to keep in mind here is: personification anthropomorphism. Take some time and look this up. It is the bane of those who research animals (and to some extent, plants).

Cure sick fish. Rid your tanks of Marine Ich. Use a quarantine process. Any other approach and you're just fooling yourself and not providing good care for your fish. I am unconvinced that people who let it slide (allow disease) are operating in the best interests of their fish. A sick fish has a shortened lifespan, under stress (a very invisible condition) and susceptible to other problems. If it is a must to attribute a human characteristic to our marine fishes, then let it be that, "My fish is unhappy because it's ill."

I'll not add to this thread. Very disappointing.