Hydrogen Sulfide Problems/Questions

[MerlotAndFamily]

So I read this article and am still a touch confused.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-12/rhf/index.php

Let me start by saying I'm new to all this reefing stuff. I had a 36-gallon saltwater tank that I ran for 2 years without a single problem. I ran that tank with minimal effort (protein skimmer, 2 backpack filters, and weekly water changes), all thanks to what I've come to understand is referred to as "dumb luck" in the hobby. My new tank, (Fluval Evo 13.5 started in Feb) has proved to be more of a challenge. Things that might be a red flag to even a mildly experienced reefer seem to go right over my head despite all the reading and researching I've been doing to try and catch up.

So here's the full story. I bought some chaeto online (along with a handful of other items.) I knew that chaeto absorbed waste out of the water and that it had been in a jar for days while traveling so when I opened the bottle and it smelt like sulfur I was like, "Yeah, alright. Seems logical" so I put it in my refugium. I know, I cringe now too when I write that. My skunk cleaner, Brian, was dead within 24 hours and I was heartbroken and completely befuddled. I had no idea what could have caused it since I was setting up the whole refugium that day (minus the copepods) so I'd done several things to the tank and had no idea which one had been the cause. But I couldn't shake the memory of that smell.

A few days later I was feeding phytoplankton to some baby brine shrimp and I noticed the fine print on the bottle "do not use if sulfur scent is present" so that got me thinking and researching and panicking.

Should also mention after all this happened with the water quality my fish broke out with a minor case of ich. All four fish (both clowns, Twin Spot, and Barnacle Blenny) have been rounded up into a quarantine tank where I intend to start treating them but in the paragraph coming up I explain why I can't treat them yet.

It's been two weeks and two heavy-ish water changes later so I thought I'd go ahead and try to place another skunk cleaner in my tank, you know so that he can be in quarantine in my shut-down display tank while my fish run through the quarantine process in the bare tank. Seemed logical to me. Within minutes he started showing the same lethargic, faltering behaviors that my first shrimp had shown and I knew if I left him in there that he was a goner. I moved him out of the display and into quarantine where he pulled through and is doing just fine now.

However, nearly losing another skunk, of course, has me back to panicking. I've been reading about using GFO in my tank to eliminate H2S but I'm not even entirely positive that's the culprit since I feel like it should have been removed from my system by this point. I've purchased both a phosphate test kit and a copper test kit (which I've heard are painfully inaccurate) but I can't seem to find an H2S test kit. Do such things exist?

Also, it seems worth mentioning that I still have the media in the sump region that came with the Fluval Evo Kit. It's a Sponge with carbon (which I've replaced once a week since the event) and the bio media. I've ordered the insert from InTank so that sponge is going in the trash in a few days time. Under the sponge, I have bio balls for copepod habitation.

I have yet to test for either Phosphate or copper. I JUST purchased the kits and will be running the tests when I get home from work today.

Does anyone have an idea as to what may have killed my shrimp (but not my hermits nor nerite snails, nor fish, nor soft corals)? Does anyone know if there is a test kit for sulfur-based things in the water and from where I can get it? Does anyone have a better idea as to what I should do to test or treat my water?

I need to get that shrimp back into my main display so that I can start copper treating my fish for the ich before my quarantine becomes overrun with the parasites and my fish worsen. I'm kind of freaking out and there's a lot of good research out there, but none of it is specific enough to ease my concerns. Hence turning to reef forums. Any and all questions or suggestions are encouraged. Especially questions because maybe you'll point out something I would never have considered that I should be.

Thanks guys!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I’ve not had it personally but I’ve worked with a few dozen cases here on Reef2Reef. Some tanks have smelt so bad they couldn’t close the windows and didn’t lose animals.
Most sulfide cases where fish and livestock (all but one ) were lost were from biopellet reactors. Not sand.

I don’t think the shrimp loss was sulfide. Yes I could be wrong.
The warning on the bottle is a rotten
Food warning.

IMO , you do have a lot of animals in a very small tank. I have two clowns and spotted dragonette in a 30 gal.

If anything , I’d test for ammoina and get some good bottled bacteria. A small bio filter can be easily overpowered by fish excretion , rotting waste and rotting foods.
Also possible that the oxygen levels in the water were very low. (And will cause sulfide production)

It’s also quite possible you stirred up some gunk and released some ammonia. (An actual mini cycle ).
And yes, I suppose it’s possible you realsed a sulfide. But....

Aeration , gfo in a high flow area and poly pad are the go to cures for sulfide.

A pretty good prevention article.

http://www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2008/11/hydrogen-sulfides.html?m=1

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm not aware of any kit for hydrogen sulfide.

People lose creatures all the time, and I don't suspect hydrogen sulfide is a very common cause.

If the sand doesn't look black, it's not likely a big source.

Are you using tap water? (a possible copper source)

 

[MerlotAndFamily]

To SaltyFilmFolks:

The tank itself doesn't have a smell. It was only the Chaeto that I used in the tank.

I don't have any reactors in my tank

I totally hear ya on the Sulfide, I'm having a hard time believing it too, but I'm at a loss for what else it could be be

I do agree on the many animals, small tank, but I do weekly water changes and everyone is really small. I also do water tests on Amonia, Nitrate, Nitrite and now Phosphates once a week and all of those are beautiful and have never been out of balance. Also all the current fish will be upgraded to my 36 gal when I move to a larger home or if they outgrow this tank before that happens.

Shouldn't have been oxygen, I have about 2 - 3 times the required flow in the tank and plenty of surface - movement? Disturbance? I mean, the shrimp was perfectly alert and healthy and happy until minutes after I set up the Refugium, and then the new shrimp showed the same symptoms two weeks and two water changes later.

I have Aeration and I have Poly Pads which are going into my InTank insert when it gets here in a day or two and then I'm going to order some GFO as well, but I won't have a tumbler. It'll just have to be in a bag with high flow unfortunately.

Thanks for the article! I'll read it right after this! =)



To Randy Holmes-Farley

There's certainly no black sand. Only reason I suspected sulfide was because of the Chaeto smelling bad, but that was two weeks and two water changes ago.

And nope, haven't used tap water in about a month and a half. I use RO/DI water that I buy at my local fish store. Mix my own salt at home. Can't think of anything that could have gotten copper into the water. Also nothing else has died. Every hermit, snail and coral is alive and accounted for. Everyone is moving around, everyone is eating. All the corals are fully open and happy. Heck, my hairy mushroom is about ready to take over the tank, he's gotten so big. I just can not, for whatever reason, put my shrimp in there. It's bizarre. I was thinking I'd try again to place him back in the tank after my next water change. I might just do a water change early and do it this Wednesday instead of waiting all the way until Sunday, but I also don't want to freak my tank out with too many changes.