Metal engineering structures are commonly covered and protected by coatings. However, the early local corrosion under the coatings and at defects is difficult to detect and discover. Visibility to the naked eye means that corrosion has already developed and expanded. Therefore, it is practical significant to detect the early corrosion of coated metal. Based on the formation of iron ions and anodic acidification in the local corrosion process, iron ions and proton responsive fluorescent rhodamine B acylhydrazone on-off probes are prepared by newly improved methods and denoted as RBA. RBA are loaded on the surface and in the lattice cage of zeolite (ZEO) to protect RBA from premature exposure to the corrosive environment and fluorescence quenching. In corrosive environments, the RBA loaded on the surface are released and complex with iron ions in the environment to activate fluorescence characteristics. Simultaneously, due to the cation exchange of ZEO, iron ions enter the lattice cage of ZEO and combine with RBA in the lattice cage to turn on fluorescence. When applied in epoxy coatings, the RBA/ZEO effectively indicate the occurrence of corrosion under the coatings and at defects, and accurately locate the corrosion site. Nano-scale ZEO (or RBA/ZEO) fill the micropores such as pinholes and defects of the coatings, and increase the difficulty of diffusion and penetration of corrosive media into the coatings. The application of RBA/ZEO functional filler not only do not weaken the main anti-corrosion performance of the coatings, but also significantly improve it.