Coral experiments

[reefwars]

Well I gotta say I'm amazed

the coral this morning was a full block of ice and spent all night in the -24 cold I put it in this morning to thaw amd was opem with in an hour all polyps are out and open to my amazement this coral is going to survive amazing and surprising what a single coral can handle if put to the test

So I guess the question is now should I give it a try for a full week

[soapy]

Amazing, in addition to being frozen solid it probably also went through some wild salinity swings as the ice froze and thawed. Puts new light on the question of how to acclimate corals.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by soapy

Amazing, in addition to being frozen solid it probably also went through some wild salinity swings as the ice froze and thawed.

It got me thinking that maybe it's a gradual cold that the corals don't like or disagree with got me wondering if I should ship single corals in a block of ice instead lol

Or how about preserving coral for many many years to come simply by freezing them this could open up a whole new science in to preserving life for future generations

[reefwars]

The next experiment is to leave one out for a week and see if it can come back to life perhaps the 24 hours was too quick for the polyp to feel affected

[reefwars]

I'm going to closely monitor this coral for the next week or maybe 2 weeks to see how it changes and color size and response time it will be interesting to see if any major changes or effects are visible to the polyp

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

As this sounds like a fun experiment to do at home....
There is I believe one institute in Hawaii that is working for cryogenics corals for the future as I believe its inevitable for our dying reefs.
Its a good paper to read I should find it and post.

[reefwars]

Salinity was 1.050 once thawed no new water added

[reefwars]

Will it last?


I once had left live rock outside mid February for about two weeks to kill any organic that were left on the rock including a large Palythoa colony two weeks later the rocks went back into the tank for a cycle and the palys came back and survived long after

However with this particular one I don't expect it to live long term but still looks good so far

[Patwa]

This thread has got me a bit perturbed. I should have posted this as soon as I read your first post a few days back, but I was left more in disbelief than anything else, and plus, it's been a hell of a week at work and home..sigh.

I saw the reaction on RC when you posted it and I have to agree with the latter sentiments there that what you're doing lacks any remorse and is essentially careless. Nevermind the complete absence of the notion of animal husbandry in what you're doing - the central reason we're all hobbyists!

The point i'm going to make is that they're animals. They have a central nervous system - a system that tells them when there is danger and when it is safe and how to react. When you do something like intentionally harming them, they will react as any animal in that situation would. We're not talking about accidental death - we're talking about trying to kill the animal by using extreme stress (cold), compounded by time.

The mad science aspect of this is quite evident - can they survive the freeze? Good question, but i'd recommend you ask a coral researcher or dig through some marine journals if you're honestly that curious.

I dunno, maybe you have too much time on your hands....but as they say, idle hands are the devil's tool? (or however it goes). Try and find some other way to use your time...maybe try and see how you can get them to grow faster, eh?

You've been in the hobby a long time, just as I have...thus, i'm blown away that you still can't come to appreciate the fact that it is a living creature, and that what you're doing is trying to quantify how and to what extent you can end its life.

anyhoo.....Im blown away it lived that first night....but i'm not going to applaud your efforts.........I think you should stop this "experiment" asap.

[jorjef]

I doubt it was living the first night, the fact it was open means nothing. Was it responding/retracting if disturbed, unno and don't really care to sift through to see. As far as mad scientist goes I don't think Denny is a real threat in the big scheme of things. Alot of us scorched a few spiders with magnifying glasses.