Illustrator copy rectangle empties of colour

Hello

I am just creating a basic stick figure. When I copy/reflect the left arm, the right arm comes out with identical fill and stroke. However when I try to transfer it (cmd x/v) to a new layer the rectangle has no fill or stroke even though when I click the layer's sideways arrow to reveal its composition there is a rectangle with the correct fill and stroke, and the fill and stroke are showing in the tools column. If I use the eyedropper tool nothing changes. Also when I draw a rectangle away from the figure on a different layer, either with the rectangle tool or with the pen tool, it results in no fill or stroke. If anyone can shed light on this phenomenon I would be very grateful. I am unsure whether this has anything to do with the fact that I have used this Ai file previously in Character Animator because when I do the reflect procedure on a totally new canvas it works.

Thanks

Geoff Axon