does phytoplankton . . . smell?

[herozero]

The sad face is for the stench. Yuck. But it is getting greener as the days go by. Seems weird, is phytoplankton supposed to smell?

On a similar note, the pods I cultured at the same time as the phyto are doing great. Bought from http://www.aseahorseandmore.com/. Mandarin is in heaven.

 

[GreshamH]

Link says store no longer exists?

It has a smell that is for sure. does it stink? relative to what? the culture itself shouldn't smell much but if concentrated it should have a particular smell. Each has it's own.

What kind of smell are you getting?

 

[OwenInAZ]

When I use DT's phyto it smells like sulfur. My guess is a byproduct of some metabolic process getting trapped in the bottle.

 

[ctenophors rule]

yes dt's does smell like sulfur, it is horrid

doctor g's product doesn't smell bad at all though.

i know if you grow it yourself it doesn't smell as bad either. jime

just in my experience.

 

[jtma508]

It really shouldn't smell like sulphur. A little 'low-tide'smell maybe but sulphur suggests anearobic breakdown. Bad. Fresh phyto cultures have very little smell. Mostly what you are smelling is dead and decaying stuff in the bottle.

 

[herozero]

Sorry the website doesn't work. Can't find the eBay handle any more either.

Definitely has that quasi-rotten egg smell. Color seems good though. I just put a few cups out to start a new jug and that really started yo shake the smells up. I feed my pod jug with the phyto and they are multiplying rapidly. Must be working.

 

[cloak]

Was it on the shelf or the fridge? It's got a smell to it, don't get me wrong, but you'll know when it was in transit to long.

 

[DTagrin]

The following information about the odor of DT's is on my website.

Non-concentrated phytoplankton has almost no odor because there is almost no phytoplankton in the bottle.

DT’s Live Marine Phytoplankton does have a noticeable odor and it is normal that the odor is sulfurous. This is due to the fact that a type of sulfide, dimethylsulfide is produced by some phytoplankton and is associated with cryoprotection.

Sulfides produced by living phytoplankton: A small amount of sulfides are produced by phytoplankton that is always in the product. Sulfides are very volatile and they come out of solution and build up in the air within the bottle even at low temperatures. If the phytoplankton is kept at a temperature in the 40’s instead of the 30’s it will have more odor. If it warms up for even a short time, say during shipping, it will have more odor.

We had our product tested throughout its shelf life and beyond. The levels found were very low ranging from 17 to 20 ppm (ppm = parts per million). These levels are very low and were also very consistent from just packaged phytoplankton through phytoplankton that was more than 5 months old (beyond the shelf life). People are extremely sensitive to sulfides, which are detected at the very low levels of 0.5 ppb (parts per billion).

A bottle of DT’s Live Marine Phytoplankton may have a strong odor because dimethylsulfide builds up in the air that has been trapped in the bottle.

The odor from the phytoplankton is most noticeable in the air that is trapped in the bottle, and it builds up over time. That is why a half empty bottle smells more than a full bottle, and a large bottle smells more than a small bottle. While odor intensity is almost impossible to describe; it is normal for the odor of sulfides to be strong, particularly in DT’s that has been in storage for a while.