True or False, did this REALLY and TRULY happen ?????

[Fishinfool]

Why would you say I'm stringing anyone along? I never once said it was true or untrue. I'm simple stating a sequence of events and would like to hear everyone's opinion. If it's no true than it's not true. If it's real, then it is. The question was answered truthfully on page one by someone already.

Think, what on earth could cause that kind of growth that some scientist or biologist somewhere hasn't already theorize and tested. How on earth could what started as a frag, reproduce 8.3 polyps per day? That's is utterly bizarre. This thread was not created and some hoax, it was presented to do exactly what it did, spark discussion and conversation.

If it is true, than great.

I totally and 100 % regret ever posting it now. You try to do something different to add some diversity away from the norm here and you get attacked, accused, labeled.

IT's A HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE, .......CLUE

I for one appreciate the change in the norm from all the same questions that are asked over and over again by people that could possible find their own answers in one minute by doing some simple research. I believe that hypothetically this could be possible, but not probable. Thanks for making us think a bit Mucho

 

[reeferoo]

This was such an intriguing and wonderful thread to read. The integrity and perseverance of Mucho to make a good conversation was admirable. I hope for more threads like this! Fascinating! I also found myself thinking about it at random times. Thanks, Mucho

 

[MUCHO REEF]

You're welcome guys, thanks.

 

[the808state]

i took a bunch of lysergic acid diethylamide and everything was growing... even the TV.

 

[khaosinc]

I've been there, but not in the last 15 years or so.

 

[ErnieC]

I enjoyed reading this thread.

 

[the808state]

True or False, did this REALLY and TRULY happen ?????

I've been there, but not in the last 15 years or so.

Ya about the same here. 2001

 

[KafudaFish]

1 of the tricks to getting faster growth to a colony (which I don't do and wouldn't ) is making slices/cuts in the zoanthid mat. I've read this somewhere and see some say it does help produce more. Can I verify it for my self, no as I don't use that technique. I believe in steady parameters, good/strong lighting, good/strong indirect flow, no predators , no fragging and let them be... which should yield you good growth.... and NO snake oil, additives etc etc. I have seen other peoples tanks that have kept to that motto and yielded awesome results without need to dose other things for years and years even before all these additives and potions/concoctions have been created.

I have heard that too. It makes sense too if you think about it. Regardless of the animal/plant where is the growth occurring? At the tip or usually on the outer surface as with zoas.
If you had a ring of 30 zoas maybe 12 would be on the outer "œedge" and where do the new polyps come from? Probably from the 12 compared to the others. You probably would get some growth in the inner areas but not as much as the outer. Over time the ring would get bigger and bigger and you should get more new growth as the diameter gets bigger.
Take the same 30 zoa polyps and line them up or space them out and you could get new growth all around if you had them in single polyp lines or if they were in a straight line then you could get new growth in say 64 directions (4 on each end and 2 in the middle for each polyp) or 120 with the singles. Of course the polyp has to survive and recover after each cut.
Anyone remember a thread years ago about someone testing this? The reefer would make different shaped frags and record growth rates over time.

 

[jefathome]

I laughed a little when I started to read this thread. Thanks, Mucho. I immediately dismissed the first post as BS, BUT the engineer in me kept making me think... what hormone actually triggers a polyp to bud/fission? (It's been years since I had biochemistry, so please forgive me if it's not actually a 'hormone').

At some point during the growth process, the polyp reaches a point where it decides it's time to reproduce. This is obviously happens through some biochemical trigger. If one could isolate this "hormone" and synthesize it, I don't think it implausible that exposing a polyp to heightened levels of this chemical could trigger it to bud.

There would be several other factors to consider as well in this accelerated propagation process. The general health and nourishment level of the "mother" polyp would clearly be a limiting factor on it being able to successfully create a new polyp.

It might not even need to be a hormone. I was watching something on the huge jellyfish that are invading Japan/Eastern pacific and there were some environmental factors that caused the "polyps" to advance their transition to actual large jellies. It was either temp or nutrients... I forget which.

 

[jefathome]

I have heard that too. It makes sense too if you think about it. Regardless of the animal/plant where is the growth occurring? At the tip or usually on the outer surface as with zoas.
If you had a ring of 30 zoas maybe 12 would be on the outer "œedge" and where do the new polyps come from? Probably from the 12 compared to the others. You probably would get some growth in the inner areas but not as much as the outer. Over time the ring would get bigger and bigger and you should get more new growth as the diameter gets bigger.
Take the same 30 zoa polyps and line them up or space them out and you could get new growth all around if you had them in single polyp lines or if they were in a straight line then you could get new growth in say 64 directions (4 on each end and 2 in the middle for each polyp) or 120 with the singles. Of course the polyp has to survive and recover after each cut.
Anyone remember a thread years ago about someone testing this? The reefer would make different shaped frags and record growth rates over time.

That holds true for almost any corals.
I had a 2 identical Favia frags... One I left whole, the other I cut into quarters and then spread them out on a single rock. A few months later there was much more total area covered on the piece that was cut into quarters since you grow on the circomference and not the middle.

 

[NyReefNoob]

bt w on the two face paly thats a personal friend of mine, lol no he isnt a biologist, i also know one other person that had this happen, having had the two types of polyps next to each other and when they grew into each other a new one morphed, ive had this happen also but not so obvious as it was with the nuc green and pd

 

[Akwarius]

That holds true for almost any corals.
I had a 2 identical Favia frags... One I left whole, the other I cut into quarters and then spread them out on a single rock. A few months later there was much more total area covered on the piece that was cut into quarters since you grow on the circomference and not the middle.

In reality, breaking zoas up into anything smaller than 3-5 polyp frag seems to weaken them and cause them to grow more slowly. My hypothesis is that with colonial polyps there truly is safety in numbers. I haven't been able to find any scientific study to back this conclusion, just my observation as someone who has hundreds of zoa frags.

 

[Akwarius]

I laughed a little when I started to read this thread. Thanks, Mucho. I immediately dismissed the first post as BS, BUT the engineer in me kept making me think... what hormone actually triggers a polyp to bud/fission? (It's been years since I had biochemistry, so please forgive me if it's not actually a 'hormone').

At some point during the growth process, the polyp reaches a point where it decides it's time to reproduce. This is obviously happens through some biochemical trigger. If one could isolate this "hormone" and synthesize it, I don't think it implausible that exposing a polyp to heightened levels of this chemical could trigger it to bud.

There would be several other factors to consider as well in this accelerated propagation process. The general health and nourishment level of the "mother" polyp would clearly be a limiting factor on it being able to successfully create a new polyp.

Just came across this thread...

At first I absolutely thought the HGH premise was outlandish and improbable, as a human growth hormone would have little effect on a cnidarian. Then it occured to me that there must be a hormone that regulates the growth of these organisms. Much like the hormone auxin serves that very function in plant growth and regulation. My guess is that science has not isolated this compound yet in coral because there is no direct profit motive. If palytoxin could be synthesized into a major pharmaceudical then there would be palythoa farms on every tropical coast getting sprayed with hormones to quench Americas thirst for chemical cures.

My question is whether a growth hormone would increase budding from a mother polyp or simply the mother polyps physical size?

Also, would the thousands of reef keeper who are members of RC be willing to pony up a couple of bucks to fund a research study to discover a coral growth hormone? The implications could be huge, bleached reef repopulation, etc.

 

[reptileblvd]

MUCHO -

I am a newbie to reef central so I am just reading this thread for the first time today but I must say that I enjoyed it greatly. Thanks for the thought provoking fun.

 

[Reef Junkie]

Good classic Mucho, good thread bud!
I was intrigued by this thread and wished I was on the site when you started it to jump in.

My feeling is I wouldn't want to speed up the growth of these polyps. The biggest negative result I could see is a reversal of growth when these animals exhausted the HGH in their bodies. You see it in people that are body builders. The growth is incredible, but long term problems are numerous. Plus, when these people stop using the drugs, they shrink.

Again, good read Mucho!

 

[chucktd321]

very good read!!!