Painted gravel not good?

I got some blue gravel for my aquarium 3 yrs ago and i knew better but i did it anyhow lol anyways paint dust comes off pretty much everytime i vacuum it. I have read that it can be harmfull to the fish but i have had it 3 years and no fish problems. Anyone know if the dust can be harmfull or not?

I've never read it, but I prefer natural looking gravel. :)

walmart sells natural color gravle 25 lb bags for 12 bucks...... its in all my aquariums. can not beat it! stay away from dumb colors and sunkin bubbling battleships and no fishing toys....... =/

I would imagine it's not the healthiest thing to have potentially chemical laden particles floating around the tank. I'd also guess that they could cause problems with gills should one happen to be sucked up. Seems to me that paint chips would have fairly sharp edges, relatively speaking, and a large enough piece could then, feasibly, damage a gill leaving it open for infection. I'm not a scientist, however, so those are just my guesses. I do have to admit to having used black gravel in a tank before, though. Looks awesome with a black background, a few brilliant green vals, and a good sized school of neons. All of my other tanks have been natural running the gamit from light tan gravel for my puffers to espresso brown gravel for serpae and lemon tetras.

i really dont think it will be harmful to the fish, cuz i had blue gravel in my 75gl for more than a year, and never had a problem with it, and thats why i switched to sand, its a lot cleaner... good luck!