| Abstract: | Mirror carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) infected with sublethal doses of Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, were free of parasites 21 days after infection. Fish remained free of parasites for at least 8 months when maintained in an infective environment. Such fish were refractory to reinfection with numbers of parasites that killed all normal, previously unexposed fish. Serum from fish recovered from previous infections with sublethal doses of parasites, immobilized free-swimming stages of I. multifiliis to a dilution of up to 1: 1024. The rise in serum-immobilization titre occurred between the 10th and 22nd days of infection, the period during which parasites disappeared from the body surface of the fish. Infective stages of the parasite were unable to penetrate the mucus body covering of resistant fish. |
