Experiment converting corals to freshwater

[Dark_Knightt]

So I'm going to do an experiment that nobody else has done, I'm going to v
Try and convert corals from saltwater to freshwater over the course of 1-5 years.

I can't explain here but I will be settling up a YouTube channel to document it.

The chanel details will be added once it is set up.

Leave your expectations and theory's down below (I'm expecting alot of negativity and hate for doing this but I think I'm on to something)

Cheers!

Dude. No seriously did you read my mind? I was on the bus to school today and I was thinking "So you know how mollies can be acclimated to saltwater and freshwater? We should try doing that with corals....?" And then i get home and find this thread thats nuts

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Many generations.

Are your corals breeding sexually?

Not true. Rapid evolution happens all the time in nature. A forest in North America may start out with a bunch of squirrels and birds living in trees, but over the course of the squirrels' and birds' lives, some will evolve into monkeys, some will evolve into giraffes, and some will evolve into sharks, who subsequently evolve to have no gills so they can survive in the trees. Some squirrels will physiologically remain normal squirrels, but they'll be fourteen feet tall with big, 15" buck teeth. Some will also be so small, they look like ants. Some will evolve into inanimate objects like dirt and rocks. Some will evolve into water too.

This rapid single-lifetime evolution happens with domestic animals too. I adopted a puppy a few years ago, and while he started out a normal dog, he's now a small horse (15.1 hands). Also, he's now a she. The clownfish pair I bought a few years ago are evolving too. One is almost done evolving into a stomella snail while the other is about three quarters of the way through transforming into a hamster. I've built a hamster enclosure for him to live in since his gills are evolving away and soon he'll need to breathe air.

Humans are also really adaptable too. It's true we evolved over millions of years to breathe a very specific mix of nitrogen and oxygen. But it's not like we'd die if we don't breathe exactly that. Humans can really breathe any gas, like chlorine, HCl fumes, pure carbon monoxide, the exhaust from coal power plants, etc. It's not even really limited to air. Humans routinely breathe liquids like water, tomato soup, antifreeze, laundry detergent, etc. There really are no limits on anything ever.

If all the above is possible, why can't you put an animal that has evolved for millions of years to live in a very specific water chemistry into another? It would be one thing if just raising the temperature a tiny bit or tweaking pH down a touch kills millions of corals per year. But there's no such thing as coral reef bleaching. In fact, there's no such thing as anything ever.

Come on man, open your eyes mind and start thinking possible.

 

[Dark_Knightt]

Sharkbait19, people are too used to doing the same old stuff. They don't want to try anything new. There not even giving it a chance just saying oh u can't do that. Prove me wrong by doing it yourself and post me the dead coral. If nobody has tried it how do u know it won't happen? Animals can adapt to verious different things.

Yeah I read about that I think pretty interesting huh

Technically if this worked we could solve a LOT of problems. Natural reefs are dying because the oceans get really warm. But freshwater areas tend to be colder, so we could "transplant" corals from reefs, to tank to be acclimated, then to freshwater environments. I really hope this works and i am super interested.

 

[BigTomo003]

So, I'll ask again:


What specific biological process are the zoanthid clones using to 'adapt' to a low salinity environment?

Well they will adapt to tolarate a lower salinity, by changing thair cells to adapt to the new environment. I'm not going to just dump a cup of freshwater in every week to (dispel or dilute Idk what one u say) the amount of salt, I will be attaching a drip line to it to drip.

 

[Sharkbait19]

From my knowledge, all organisms want to be alive. If put in conditions slightly off of ideal, they will adapt to it to keep on living. Once stable, the process can repeat until the desired result is met or the organism fails to adapt. Hence why it takes so long. External pressures trigger possible mutation and evolution. You don’t see coral in lower salinity areas in the wild, as no pressures are forcing them to live there when they can be fine in their optimal conditions. It is not the case in a tank, so it forces evolution. For a more controlled experiment, the op can have multiple tanks running different changes at different speeds, and one control at normal salinity to see how great of an effect there is comparatively.

 

[BigTomo003]

Look, I’m just taking this the way I see it. To me, I’m looking at what seems to be a well planned test, where the op is trying to see for himself if corals can be adapted to freshwater. We all know it is a one in a million chance it works, but I for one would be interested in seeing how it works. I may have the op all wrong in his plans and experiment, I’m just looking at it with a bit of optimism and support, largely because I find the idea very interesting.

Thanks buddy. Its hard for me to actually type what I want to say. Its frustrating for me and probably for all of you guys too, but at least your recognising the main points.

 

[BackToTheReef]

While I think there might be some "holes" in the science on this one I think the key is to disagree without being disagreeable, as my buddy used to say.

At this point I don't think anyone on either side of the "conversation" is going to be swayed by the other.

 

[Jib]

The op isn’t just putting them directly into fresh water, he is taking time to acclimate slightly over the course of many years, and has said he plans to stop the experiment if it starts going wrong. I think he knows that the chances of success was low, but that is part of what science is. You have to push the boundaries despite what those around you thought. We wouldn’t have any of modern science if people have up because their hypothesis went against the thought of the time.
If it is the corals’ lives you are worried about, a good portion of biological science revolves around animal testing. Just like how cows are bread for steak, these corals are being bred for the purpose of science.

Take a look at what robbyg wrote. I quoted it below. This is why it won;t work.

It wont work and there is no need to kill animals to find out. This experiment has been going on for hundreds of millions of years and it has always failed. I have seen the results with my own eyes and if your really interested in knowing the answer for yourself I suggest you learn how to Scuba Dive.

I have dived by the mouths of at least three small rivers in the Caribbean.
The water about 200-300 yards from the mouth of these rivers is brackish and you find some life forms but most of it Algae, some sponges and lots of big Parrot fish. At 600 Yards you start seeing real reef including Zoanthids. Anything closer than 100 Yards is a waste land of mostly just brown rock and the water tastes just about fresh.

If it was at all possible to adapt then at least one of the hundreds of various species of corals that are 600 yards out would have started to grow in the brackish area and slowly gotten closer to the river itself. This is not the case and I am sure that in the last 50 years thousands of divers across the globe have dived the mouth of rivers and if they had found any type of coral they would have been on the news showing off their discovery.

 

[Eric1493]

I've been growing sps in coors light on my youtube channel for years

Pathetic. I've grown zoanthids in Clorox bleach for about 1-5 years. I've found them to be very highly adaptable. One even turned into a chicken and is laying golden eggs. Some of the others grew into pigs and donkeys, which currently are teaching at a local university and are fluent in 13 languages. You can watch all abt it on my youtube channel, which I am totally not promoting at all, in any way shape, or form...

 

[BigTomo003]

Technically if this worked we could solve a LOT of problems. Natural reefs are dying because the oceans get really warm. But freshwater areas tend to be colder, so we could "transplant" corals from reefs, to tank to be acclimated, then to freshwater environments. I really hope this works and i am super interested.

Thanks buddy, keep it posted

 

[Hincapiej4]

BRO THEY CAN CHANGE THEIR CELLS ON A WHIM?!?!? HOLY SMOKES MAN! HOW? TEACH ME! I WANNA DO IT TOO! MAYBE I CAN CHANGE MY APPEARANCE TO GET THAT JOB I ALWAYS WANTED! I CAN LOOK JUUUUSSTTT LIKE BILL GATES!!!

 

[Eric1493]

Well they will adapt to tolarate a lower salinity, by changing thair cells to adapt to the new environment.

That has to be the most vague statement I've ever read.

 

[BigTomo003]

Pathetic. I've grown zoanthids in Clorox bleach for about 1-5 years. I've found them to be very highly adaptable. One even turned into a chicken and is laying golden eggs. Some of the others grew into pigs and donkeys, which currently are teaching at a local university and are fluent in 13 languages. You can watch all abt it on my youtube channel, which I am totally not promoting at all, in any way shape, or form...

Your comment wasn't funny, just really dumb. Tell me 1 way that it's not possible. Go on...

 

[driftin]

OP - your post was edited by a moderator, but rather than make gross assumptions on how animals in research labs are treated and cared for, I suggest you do some research into governing- and accrediting-bodies such as AAALAC and NIH. The AAALAC guide is free for download and places heavy focus on the humane care and ethical treatment of animals.

Download the pdf here: https://www.aaalac.org/pub/?id=E905B4D2-EC0B-5638-4898-1553E7CFCBAB

Especially if you are convincing yourself that research on living organisms in professional laboratory environments justifies a (seemingly) haphazard experiment at home.

 

[BigTomo003]

BRO THEY CAN CHANGE THEIR CELLS ON A WHIM?!?!? HOLY SMOKES MAN! HOW? TEACH ME! I WANNA DO IT TOO! MAYBE I CAN CHANGE MY APPEARANCE TO GET THAT JOB I ALWAYS WANTED! I CAN LOOK JUUUUSSTTT LIKE BILL GATES!!!

Read the comment. Your frying my brain dude. Over multiple god dang years not in seconds, people like you make my braincells want to run away

 

[Sharkbait19]

Look, you can disagree using facts, like many have been doing, but there is no reason to ridicule the op over it.

 

[excell007]

Why in so much hurry to do this. Why don't you do more research. Just a few months ago you're openning threads like 'opinions on my first tank', 'will my zoa colony die' and 'what's wrong with my zoa'.

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

Technically if this worked we could solve a LOT of problems. Natural reefs are dying because the oceans get really warm. But freshwater areas tend to be colder, so we could "transplant" corals from reefs, to tank to be acclimated, then to freshwater environments. I really hope this works and i am super interested.

Just wondering, but if we moved corals to freshwater ecosystems, are we not disrupting the natural ecological balance already set in place, and just going to cause more problems?

 

[BigTomo003]

OP - your post was edited by a moderator, but rather than make gross assumptions on how animals in research labs are treated and cared for, I suggest you do some research into governing- and accrediting-bodies such as AAALAC and NIH. The AAALAC guide is free for download and places heavy focus on the humane care and ethical treatment of animals.

Download the pdf here: https://www.aaalac.org/pub/?id=E905B4D2-EC0B-5638-4898-1553E7CFCBAB

Especially if you are convincing yourself that research on living organisms in professional laboratory environments justifies a (seemingly) haphazard experiment at home.

Im in the UK, not us. Different rules buddy

 

[BigTomo003]

Just wondering, but if we moved corals to freshwater ecosystems, are we not disrupting the natural ecological balance already set in place, and just going to cause more problems?

Were already doing it. Climate change changes habits every day.