Cali Kid Corals

Any thoughts on getting electrical burn smell of your hands?

Apon

Supporting Member
So I have been on shutdown from work since last Friday. I decide to stop bye and check and feed my 6 gallon desk tank. I have a friend who was working feed while I was away. So I get there and there is that dreaded electrical burning smell and black film on the water surface. The Rio 600 Pump burned up! Must have just happened this morning as the most of the fish and inverts still alive, but I did lose 1 small clownfish. So after a run to Neptunes, Robert helped me with 10 gallons of water from his display system (I needed warm SW right away, carbon, and polyfilter) and l did 100% water change and installed a new pump. Hopefully the tank will be ok.

Now 3 hours later I can still smell the burning smell on my hands. Soap and Water isn't cutting it. Any thoughts to washing it away? Afraid to tough my home tanks until its gone.
 
Continuous washing will eventually get it, it can take a while. If you have some exfolient (rough) soap like Lava that might help things out a bit. Also are you absolutely sure the smell is on your hands, and you don't just have particles stuck in your nose that you keep smelling? :D
 
Gojo, mechenics hand cleaner and after, dish soap.
Sorry about the issue; I’ve been there in the Rio pump scenario twice.
 
Holy cow, Arnold. You just happened to go there soon after the pump burned up! Sorry about the clown. But wow, it could have been so much worse.
Have you tried rubbing a stainless steel spoon or coffee beans/grinds? Pumice stone? Thawed fish food would get rid of any lingering burnt smell and get your hands coated and ready for tanks.
 
If you’ve scrubbed and scrubbed with the above suggestions and still have some smell left, I don’t see how it would come off in the tank since it didn’t come off in water already.
 
Thanks all for the input, it took about 5 hand washes to get it all out. Not sure about the tank as I haven't gone back to check on it. No More Rio pumps.
 
Back
Top