Decor Safety Questions

[Morg591]

My father just came home from a tropical vacation and to my suprise brought me home a few gifts. He purchased some dead coral skeletons that he wants me to put in my reef tank. One of them has obviously been dyed blue but the others are white (bleached). He claims that the person that sold them to him said they are safe for aquariums. Im not so sure I want to just stick something like this in my tank without checking. His heart is set on seeing them in my tank. Are they safe or do I need to treat them somehow first. They may look a little weird at first but once the coraline grows on them they may look cool.

 

[Skeletor]

Without knowing what was used to dye the coral blue, I would hold off on putting it in the tank. Assuming that bleaching was all that was done to the white pieces, they should be safe to add to your tank. HTH

 

[Anonymous]

5 or 6 of the rocks in my tank were found on tropical beaches. I bleached them myself and they are now coralline algae covered LR.

 

[Morg591]

Does anyone have any recomendations on a way to treat the dyed piece... Is there a method that can be used to cure it?

 

[sfla_pb]

Why do you think the coral is dyed? Their is a Fire coral ( Heliopora coerulea ) that has a blue skeleton when it dies. Could this be your blue coral?

 

[Morg591]

The coral is definately dyed... There is blue and red dye on 2 different ones. The color is so unnatural that there is no way it is the color of the skeleton.

 

[EmilyB]

If you don't feel safe about putting them in your tank, don't let someone else decide for you.

 

[erasmu]

I would recommend soaking the bleached pieces in fresh water for a day or two to get any residual chlorine traces out from the bleaching. More than likely they are ok, but I would be cautious.