RE: [APD] Aquatic-Plants Digest, Vol 4, Issue 103

["Seweryn Bialasiewicz" <s_bialasiewicz at hotmail_com>]

Sounds like the ich parasite might have a similar lifestyle to that of the 
herpes family of viruses.
In my mind, the ich parasite exists perpetually in the aquarium, but not in 
a complete dormant state. Since it requires a host to survive, as Mike has 
pointed out, it is possible that ich is present on some or most fish as a 
chronic low-level infection, just like herpes simplex virus (the one that 
causes cold sores). Usually the number is low and there is no noticable 
infestation or disease, but when the host gets stressed out, boom! the 
virus/protist starts replicating rapidly and you see visable disease, such 
as cold sores or ich. Treatment with medication only relieves the symptoms 
and blocks the high reproductivity rate. But like the remaining virus inside 
the nerve cells of human lips, remnant protists could survive on the skin or 
inside of the fish. That's my theory anyways...

- Seweryn

> I disagree. All the scientific evidence I've seen says that ich must find a
> host within a short period of time, or it dies. This is backed up by
> practical experience. I've never seen ich develop in an established tank
> unless it had new (infected) fish introduced or was cross-contaminated by
> another source-- such as using the same bucket to make water changes in
> infected/uninfected tanks or using the same net, etc. Once an ich infection
> is cured in an aquarium, it is gone forever, unless the tank becomes
> reinfected from an outside source.

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