Is it real coral? In Florida

Shefie1971 · Apr 3, 2024

I'm vacationing in the keys and bought a large piece of "coral" from a souvenir shop that I wanted to add to my freshwater tank that holds my 3 goldfish
Are these corals they sell real? How can I tell? I dont want to hurt my fish and from what I read, they can if they're real coral.
TIA

ISpeakForTheSeas · Apr 3, 2024

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Any pics of the "corals" in question?

I'm not well-versed in freshwater tanks yet, but to my knowledge coral skeleton shouldn't hurt your fish any more than regular freshwater rock would - the only way they should really be hurt by it is by running into it or rubbing up on it.

Shefie1971 · Apr 7, 2024

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Any pics of the "corals" in question?

I'm not well-versed in freshwater tanks yet, but to my knowledge coral skeleton shouldn't hurt your fish any more than regular freshwater rock would - the only way they should really be hurt by it is by running into it or rubbing up on it.

Thank you. Sorry for the delay,
I was on my way home, and the item was packed up! I didn't think.about them rubbing it ‍ I have a photo now.

shakacuz · Apr 7, 2024

Shefie1971 said:
Thank you. Sorry for the delay,
I was on my way home, and the item was packed up! I didn't think.about them rubbing it ‍ I have a photo now.

seems safe to me

Patx · Apr 7, 2024

Shefie1971 said:
I'm vacationing in the keys and bought a large piece of "coral" from a souvenir shop that I wanted to add to my freshwater tank that holds my 3 goldfish
Are these corals they sell real? How can I tell? I dont want to hurt my fish and from what I read, they can if they're real coral.
TIA

increase in minerals very likely. (coral are not "rock")
In general this is not a good idea.
but it all depends on your goals / choice of fish.
For gold fish i don't know.

JNalley · Apr 7, 2024

That is a real coral skeleton... It has no living organism in it. But, it's also made of Calcium Carbonate, so it will likely raise your pH in your freshwater aquarium... The other thing is, they are typically used as home ornamentation, so people use all kinds of cleaners on them to keep the dust off... I probably wouldn't put that in my tank... I'd be hesitant to put it into a Saltwater tank just because I'm not sure if someone has used Pledge or something on it while trying to clean it...