Hydrogen Sulphide!?

I'll try to keep this short since it's 0:30 and I need to at least try sleep though I don't know if I can with this possible bomb ticking under my aquariums substrate. The tank's a fairly new (set up in february) 15 gallon. I strated seeing bubbles coming from underneath the sand when doing water changes about a month ago. I didn't think it could be something bad back then. After a while I started researching the bubbles and found out about hydrogen sulphite. Tonight I disturbed the soil to check if that's what it was and when I got some bubbles to emerge I put my nose near the water and I smelled rotten eggs - hydrogen sulphite! There have been no casualities in the fish, snails or shrimp (I guess I've managed to keep the water aerated enough) so I hope I can still fix this. And that's where I need help. I'm not sure how. I have figured out that the main source of the bubbles might be this piece of wood I have in the tank that's partially in the sand. I'm planning on raising it on top of the substrate so it can't feed the anaerobic bacteria in the sand. Is that a good idea? I think I'll also take out some of the sand since it's pretty deep right now. I think it would be best to take my fish and as many shrimp I can catch out of the tank while I tamper with it, just in case. I'd appreciate any advice or suggestions on how to best deal with this. I don't want to lose this tank.

 

Don’t mess with substrate! Aerate!!!! That’s the only way

Aerating changes the chemical compound. The tank isn’t planted is it?

 

As I thought I can't sleep... I'm too worried.
The tank actually is planted. Is that good or bad in this situation?

 

As I thought I can't sleep... I'm too worried.
The tank actually is planted. Is that good or bad in this situation?

Good but aerate! With an air stone. If you don’t have that do a water change with water you previously shook in a container so it sort of aerates it

I’m surprised it’s planted... oxygen should help the H2S

How strong was the smell?

 

Good that it's good! I actually did a watee change earlier today and I put water in the watee in a bucket with a shower head so I think it gets somewhat aerated that way. Plus the surface of the water moves well. I think the reason why there haven't been any deaths is the good aeration if the water? Since oxygen neutralizes the H2S (in my understanding)?

The smell wasn't that strong, I'm not sure I would've noticed it without trying and sticking my nose close to the water. But it definetly was there.

 

Ok so you should still get an air stone. If the smell was weak you should have about 2 days until it is bad. But don’t worry. It’ll be fine

In other words, if it was aerated enough, you wouldn’t be able to smell it. How deep is the substrate?

 

It's about 5 cm in the deepest parts. I'm going to get an airstone first thing in the morning when my lfs opens. Thank you so much for your help!

 

Only 5cm..... that is extraordinarily shallow for anoxic zones to occur. Is it sand? And no problem!

 

Yeah, it's sand. The research I did did warn me about "the dangers" of sand but all of it told that I'd be okay by just disturbing the sand while doing water changes which I've been doing...
And I think I might have lied. I took a better loik at the substrate and it might be closer to 6 maybe even 7 cm where the wood is.

 

That makes sense. Yep, air stone is the answer

 

Where in the tank sould I place the stone? Or does that matter? Like near the filter so that the air bubbles would go all around the tank with the currdent?

So I shouldn't do anything to the piece of wood or the depht of the sand? I realised I only started to see the bubbles after I rearranges the tank and stuck the wood piece in the substrate. And it's only under the wood I've found bubbles.

 

I totally agree with Finatic005 for the airstone. I wouldn't mess with the sand because if you release a bunch of hydrogen sulfide in your tank your fish will not be happy. Bubbles are a normal thing to see come from sand, it's usually just trapped oxygen. I would also check to see if there's anything rotting and maybe even give your filter a whiff. I had hydrogen sulfide in my tank and it was actually because of anaerobes in my filter. Nothing worked for me until I used silver and within 2 days it was gone. But yes, airstone, airstone, airstone. I'd say that is the first line of defense.

 

Where in the tank sould I place the stone? Or does that matter? Like near the filter so that the air bubbles would go all around the tank with the currdent?

Doesn’t matter where, just make the air stone deep, like near the substrate.

 

Would it be okay to move the wood and take some sand out, if I take out the fish, the shrimp, and the snails while I do it? I do believe that an air stone is going to help I'd still like to try and eliminate the problem (which seems to be the wood and too deep sand?).
Thanks to you both I'm feeling better about the situation already! I'm not able to get the air stone until later today (I was hoping to get it as soon as possible) so let's hope the tank manages another few hours...

I just had an idea! Would planting a plant next to the wood (the problem zone) help with keeping the sand aerated?

 

You already own an air pump, right? If yes, at least drop a naked airline into the tank right away, tied to a stone to hold it at the bottom. You can pop an air stone on later when you get one. An open line is noisy and may startle your fish at first, but it is still much better than nothing at all.

Bubbles out of your gravel are not necessarily a guarantee of impending disaster, but they are a sign that something is not quite right. They are assuredly not trapped oxygen.

 

Curious but how does driftwood cause this? Wouldn't it have to be rotting fast to create so much gas? Seems unlikely, especially in a relatively new tank.

 

I didn't have an air pump previously but I just came back from getting one. But I ran into another problem because the instructions said that the pump must be placed above the water level of the tank. I'm not able to build a shelf right now so the only possibility would be to hang it from the ceiling or the wall. Would that be alright? The air pump is Sera air 110 plus.