synthetic coral

Question
I have three decent sized pieces of synthetic coral in my tank. the 1st few months i was getting the hang of being back in the fish hobbyist land. my tank didn't get cleaned as well as it should. needless to say the coral has a bit of brownish "stain" to it now. i do water changes every 2 weeks minimum and am keeping ti much cleaner than before. my question is, is there any way to clean the coral to get some of that brown stain off it? thanks....

Answer
Hi Steve
First I'd try using a new toothbrush.  I just looked them up to see what they're made of, the ones I saw were polyurethane.  I would suggest a little bleach/water mixture, but not sure how well the polyurethane can handle that and if it's porous you don't want to use that, will soak the bleach up.  Bleach is safe to use on certain items, as long as it's rinsed very good, and I also use a little dechlorinator when I add the item back into the tank.  Try a vinegar/water mix with the toothbrush and rinse it off afterwards.  Scrubbing and the vinegar would be the only safe things I can think of to use on that.
If that doesn't work, could always buy a plant or something to put in front of it to help camouflage the stain.....:)

Good luck!

Christy