Can corals be dyed?

[my2rotties]

I purchased an encrusting green/blue monti and it has turned white/mauve over time. I also had this sick looking incandescent green/purple acro, and it has turned mauve as well. Then there was the neon purple encrusting monti that has also turned mauve. The reason I purchased them is because of the bright sick colours, and although colours do fade at times... this is such a radical change from what they used to be I wonder if they might have been dyed. I have heard from a couple of people that they had the same pieces change colours as well...these people are very experienced reefers and I know if it is happening to them... maybe it might be dyes on the corals.

Any insight? I don't want to cause problems, but I want to avoid paying a premium price for something and have it turn into something less then standard. I know there are factors that can cause corals to bleach, but a few of these pieces have gone from one colour to a totally different realm. To have something go from a crazy green to mauve is odd. Or to go from green/neon blue to white/mauve is nuts.

Hoping to get some sort of answers to what might be happening or if any people have experienced this as well.

[Aquattro]

Sounds pretty normal. Beige/tan = going brown or bleaching. It happens. Stress of moving, different lighting, different water, etc. Nothing to do with experience, just happens sometimes (often).

[karazy]

like aquattro said, it sounds normal.

corals look different in different tanks since every tank is different.
for example we have some peachy/brownish clove polyps at the shop that look bright blue in some of our customers tanks.

give it time, maybe try repositioning it a few times to figure out what flow and lighting it likes, and it should color up for you.

[justinl]

+1 different system, different reaction. this is normal; hopefully it colors up later. for the record though, corals can be dyed; doesn't happen very often as far as I know.

[my2rotties]

Sounds good to me... I heard this has happened with the same shipment of corals with another member, so I was just making sure. I have had my tank running for over six months, so I know things like this can happen to me at this point. I have got a flat worm problem on my acros, but a couple of the corals that have colour changed are not acros, so I thought I would also check.

I run three 250w halides at 14000K, they used to be 10000k, but this has been happening prior to the change, and I am not sure what to think. If I did not have the flat worm issues, I would ask my buddy to put them in his frag tank to see what happens to them...

I did find an article on the dying of corals... but it is speaking of the soft versions, instead of hard corals.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-09/eb/index.php

My hubby did buy a sick yellow seabae anemone and it is slowly losing the neon yellow, so I know for a fact it is dyed. It is healthy just not a colour you see in this type of nem.

[Chowder]

It is mostly Leathers that get died. I have seen them in King ED from time to time. Mostly Colt corals.

[Zoaelite]

+2 On that, the only types of coral you can dye (or at least that I have seen) would be soft corals like Colts, Fingers or Anemones. They usually place the softies in a tank with a whole whack of dye in it, let them sit a while and then ship em out. Its very stressful for the coral and the most of the time they loose there color within a few months.
Levi

[my2rotties]

I find the oddest thing with all of this is when we were dipping corals last night. We were dipping in Revive, and the awesome green acro, which was still healthy went into the dip... it came out mauve/white. The water turned very orange during the dip. I don't know if it was the flat worms or not. I know things react to dips and such, but to go from green to mauve and still be healthy is strange to me. Everything else had no reaction to the dip and is colouring back up again. I am watching the green acro, but there is not a single sign that it was ever green with purple.

[my2rotties]

I had a nice red colt coral and watched it slowly fade out... it eventually died.

Originally Posted by zoaElite

+2 On that, the only types of coral you can dye (or at least that I have seen) would be soft corals like Colts, Fingers or Anemones. They usually place the softies in a tank with a whole whack of dye in it, let them sit a while and then ship em out. Its very stressful for the coral and the most of the time they loose there color within a few months.
Levi

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by my2rotties

I had a nice red colt coral and watched it slowly fade out... it eventually died.

Its a really horrible practice, if you want some good reading:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-09/eb/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-0...ture/index.php