Dyed Corals???

[jdiver]

At the suggestion of several Philly members of the board, I took a trip to The Hidden Reef store about 30 miles from my house. I was extremely impressed with their fish and coral room. In speaking with the fish room manager, he told me that they try to keep at least 300 corals in stock at all times, and when they are fully stocked have closer to 500 corals. I stared at the tanks, drooling over what I could eventually put into my nano.

 

One particular coral caught my attention, a Yellow Goniopora. There were several of them, and they were absolutely gorgeous. Upon returning home, I looked it up on line, and it turns out there is no Yellow variety of the Goniopora, and the yellow ones available are dyed. Needless to say, I was quite disheartened to learn this. I read more and learned that the Goniopora are one of the more commonly dyed corals, along with brain corals, and 1 or 2 others that I can't recall.

 

What are other people's experiences with dyed corals? I would never consider getting one, but I was wondering if dyed corals are common, and if other people address their lfs owners or managers about their disapproval. Thanks for the feedback about this. It really bothers me when fish get dyed, and now to find out that corals get dyed too, it only adds to that.

[Fant]

Dyed corals are becoming slightly more common in the last year or two. It is sickening to see corals treated in such a way. A month or two ago i ran across a leather coral that had been dyed red. The water in the bag the coral had come in looked like kool aid. Most corals treated this way rarely survive, and if they do, its because they managed to purge the dye from their tissues.  search borneman's forum over at RC I believe he is looking into what needs to be done to see this practice stopped.

[cjm033]

i think thats totally wrong to dye a coral its bad enough with fish i think they should outlaw it,Chris:)

[SLOreefer]

it sucks when dyed corals come in where i work. we for the most part try to not get them at all but once in a while they slip them in our shipments. it really ####es me off too because if one of these corals die in our system the whole thing changes color for at least 3-5 hours untill the skimmer pulls the dye out, it is a mess.

[Korbin]

You mentioned that brain corals are sometimes dyed...

Do you mean the open-brains?  Their colors always look fake to me.  How do you know if something is dyed?

[Sahin]

I would be very ####ed off if an LFS sold me a dyed coral.

 

Dyed fish are bad enough but this is just ridiculous.

:angryfire: !!!!

 

I hate people that have no respect for nature.  It is bad enough that we collect corals from the wild etc to make a living and also to have a part of the reef in our homes, but to dis-regard the corals and fishes in this way is just outrageous.

 

It should be banned.  All artificial dyeing of corals/fish etc should be banned.

[Sahin]

I expect if someone started dyeing cats purple, it would be noticed and something be done, but just because its corals doesnt make it alright for those people to do this!

 

I think no one should buy such things and therefore LFS's wouldnt stock them, and maybe the original people who do such things would see no financial gain in doing so.

[Jay Fortay]

hey everyone ,

 i've been away for a while, and really busy...good to see you all still here I was wondering which fish are dyed.  I know that the bloody parrot fish and many of the other fresh water fish are dyed, but are there any saltwater fish that are dyed.  They are all naturally so pretty why would anyone want to dye them?

[jdiver]

I agree that is should not be legal to dye fish or corals. I don't see the point of it, since there are so many beautiful natural colors anyway.

 

Jay- I don't think I've ever seen any dyed saltwater fish, but there are a number of freshwater fish that get dyed, most commonly the "painted" glass fish and the parrot fish. Quite often when I'm in fish stores that sell dyed fish, people are buying them, and I debate on whether or not to say anything to them about it.

 

As far as the dyed corals though, I can (unfortunately) definitely see the appeal to someone who doesn't know the coral is dyed. I am the perfect example of that. I saw the bright yellow coral at my lfs yesterday and was unaware it was not a natural variety until investigating it online. I'm not the type of person who would buy a new fish or coral without researching it first, but there are plenty of people who are. I guess they are the ones who make it profitable to dye fish and corals.

[samw]

Originally posted by jdiver

One particular coral caught my attention, a Yellow Goniopora. There were several of them, and they were absolutely gorgeous. Upon returning home, I looked it up on line, and it turns out there is no Yellow variety of the Goniopora, and the yellow ones available are dyed. Needless to say, I was quite disheartened to learn this. I read more and learned that the Goniopora are one of the more commonly dyed corals, along with brain corals, and 1 or 2 others that I can't recall.

 

What are other people's experiences with dyed corals? I would never consider getting one, but I was wondering if dyed corals are common, and if other people address their lfs owners or managers about their disapproval. Thanks for the feedback about this. It really bothers me when fish get dyed, and now to find out that corals get dyed too, it only adds to that.

 

Are you sure its dyed? I found some yellow ones from this website. I thought it was a picture from the ocean:

 

http://whelk.aims.gov.au/coralsearch/image...arge/202-03.jpg

 

I bought a yellow one 5 months ago and it seems to be doing well.

 

Here's another link with Yellow Gonioporas from Australia:

 

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/gonioporapix.htm

[jdiver]

The ones my lfs had for sale were bright lemon yellow (the ones in the pics you posted pale in comparison), so all indications are that they were indeed dyed. Since then though I haven't seen any others, so hopefully they told their supplier no more.

[jjharrisx4]

Another commonly dyed coral is the pagoda (Turbinaria Peltata)

 

I didn't know this until I bought one, and had a question. When Anthony Calvo saw a pic he indicated that it was likely dyed, and these animals are commonly found dyed. Bummer. Well, so far it looks great in my system. I'll hope for the best.

[RedSkaNite]

How do they dye a coral?? Or a fish? Put it in the food? Inject it? What is the dye made of? This is just weird.

[Korbin]

My LFS had some colt corals that were dyed hot pink. They were super-bright pink that is not found in nature. I asked the guy at the store about them and he said they are dyed. And he said they are $50 each. So I laughed...

 

And then I went back a couple weeks later, and all the pink things had faded and croaked.

[vanillabox]

here is a site with the lowdown on painted fish

http://honors.montana.edu/~weif/firsttank/...k/painted.shtml

[RedSkaNite]

Well I'll be damned! Me and my stepdaughter saw these glass fish with really cool hot pink and blue spots/stripes at the LFS the other day. She wanted one and I told her I would set her up a FW tank for her b-day. I had no idea they were dyed. ::smacks himself on the forehead::

[mysk]

myquestion is say a dyed coral lived for a long amount of time would the new growth be dyed also??

[Foogoo]

If by some magic a died coral actually lived enough to be able to grow, the ink would probably have faded by then. If not, the new growth would probably be natural color.

[Fant]

some of the places that are dyeing corals, are using just normal food coloring. So the corals usually purge the stain after a few weeks. If it doesnt recover its most likely that a harsher chemical was used.

[jjharrisx4]

Usually the dying process will kill any symbiotic algae present in the coral...of course this usually means death. I fyou do happen to make a mistake and buy a dyed coral (like I did) you have to give it special care for it to have a chance. I target feed my pagoda several times per week, and have it under the most intense lighting (next to my acropora/pocillopora frags) and it is now starting to turn brownish (it's natural color). The polyps stand up nicely, and it looks very healthy, so I think It'll be OK. I'll keep wishing!