Copper Power and water smell

[wbama387]

I mixed copper power into a 40 gallon container containing saltwater and it has been in there for 4 days and has a fishy smell to it now. Does anyone know why this would be?

 

[Sharkbait19]

If it smells like the ocean, it probably should - saltwater has a distinct smell. I doubt it has anything to do with the copper.
Has it been sitting stagnant or is there water movement?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I mixed copper power into a 40 gallon container containing saltwater and it has been in there for 4 days and has a fishy smell to it now. Does anyone know why this would be?

Was there any organic material in the bucket? I always aerate saltwater that I have in containers, just to keep it fresh. I don't know of any way that the copper power itself would cause a smell.

Jay

 

[wbama387]

If it smells like the ocean, it probably should - saltwater has a distinct smell. I doubt it has anything to do with the copper.
Has it been sitting stagnant or is there water movement?

It has movement from a power head. I have a pair of clownfish in QT which have started laying on their side when they are not swimming so it had me worried. I was checking water parameters and noticed the smell. All parameters seem to be alright. The tank I have them in has the same smell maybe slightly worse which I used the water from that container to fill the tank. It the smell when you go into a pet store and their tanks are not the cleanest. I assume it is not normal for clownfish to lay on their side? They will do it for 5-10 seconds and then get up and move a little. It looks like they are dying so that’s why it has me worried but when they are swimming they look fine.

 

[wbama387]

Was there any organic material in the bucket? I always aerate saltwater that I have in containers, just to keep it fresh. I don't know of any way that the copper power itself would cause a smell.

Jay

No organic material. I don’t have an air stone in it but I do have a power head.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Clownfish are weird - hard to say without a video but that sounds like normal clowns to me.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

No organic material. I don’t have an air stone in it but I do have a power head.

If the powerhead is injecting air, that works the same way as an air stone. If it is just circulating the water without breaking the surface tension, it doesn't work as well.

Jay

 

[wbama387]

Here is a picture of the clowns. Should I be concerned?

 

[Sharkbait19]

A vid would help, but it looks like they’ve decided the corner is an anemone.

 

[wbama387]

A vid would help, but it looks like they’ve decided the corner is an anemone.

What is the best way to post a video as it says it is too large?

 

[wbama387]

I was able to do a shorter video.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I see what you mean - that doesn’t seem normal. How are the flow, aeration, and parameters?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I mixed copper power into a 40 gallon container containing saltwater and it has been in there for 4 days and has a fishy smell to it now. Does anyone know why this would be?

My feeling is container is the source
Seachem prime- now that’s a smell but rarely copper products

 

[wbama387]

I see what you mean - that doesn’t seem normal. How are the flow, aeration, and parameters?

I am using a large air stone for flow and aeration and parameters all look good.

 

[wbama387]

PH 8.2, ammonia .02, nitrite 0, salinity 34.9, Is there any other parameters I should check? There is copper power at 2.43 and it is a 10 gallon tank.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Those fish sure look to be in trouble. The water parameters above are in order. Help me out with the timeline here: the water in the bucket smelled funny and then you did a water change with it and then the clownfish started acting this way?

Jay

 

[wbama387]

Those fish sure look to be in trouble. The water parameters above are in order. Help me out with the timeline here: the water in the bucket smelled funny and then you did a water change with it and then the clownfish started acting this way?

Jay

I didn’t really realize the smell when doing the water change. The water change was done 2 days ago. When feeding this morning I noticed the tank they are in smelled so I decided to smell the container of water and it has the similar smell just not as strong. It’s not a terrible odor just a fishy one like when a water change has not been done in a while. I got these fish Saturday and since Monday the male has been doing this and the female started yesterday and it is getting progressively longer so it had me worried and checking everything I could. Also along with copper there is nitrofurazone in the tank.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I didn’t really realize the smell when doing the water change. The water change was done 2 days ago. When feeding this morning I noticed the tank they are in smelled so I decided to smell the container of water and it has the similar smell just not as strong. It’s not a terrible odor just a fishy one like when a water change has not been done in a while. I got these fish Saturday and since Monday the male has been doing this and the female started yesterday and it is getting progressively longer so it had me worried and checking everything I could. Also along with copper there is nitrofurazone in the tank.

I wondered about the color of the water - the nitrofurazone accounts for that. I’ve never dosed that with copper - there might be a reaction.
I don’t think these fish are going survive if you don’t do something - can you mix up fresh seawater in another container to change the water? If you match the specific gravity and temperature closely, you can move the fish right over to 100% new water.
Jay

 

[wbama387]

I wondered about the color of the water - the nitrofurazone accounts for that. I’ve never dosed that with copper - there might be a reaction.
I don’t think these fish are going survive if you don’t do something - can you mix up fresh seawater in another container to change the water? If you match the specific gravity and temperature closely, you can move the fish right over to 100% new water.
Jay

Yes, I actually moved them over to unmedicated water a few hours ago as I had some mixed up from a few days ago. They seem to be doing better but still not perfect. I was following Marine Collectors QT process where they mix copper and nitrofurazone.

 

[wbama387]

Clowns are still doing well. I let them stay in unmedicated water for a few days and then started copper power alone. They did well with just copper power.