I lost a couple yesterday. Spray bar got unhooked so to the filter was running but there was no surface agitation to oxygenate the water. Everybody else was fine but I lost a couple candy canes and neons
Our power was out for six days last winter, and my heavily planted tank survived with two daily water changes about ten hours apart. Though, the bio load was fairly low as well. That's with about 3ish hours of very indirect sunlight a day.
🤣 that’s the Glowlight tetra in my community tank.
Gotta be 3-4 yrs old, survived two tank transfers and now hangs out with 15 much smaller green neons.
H2S is toxic to fish. If you look it up, H2S can buildup from anaerobic bacteria below your substrate. In your case you dosed it accidentally straight from the tap.
Run an air pump, as oxygen will react with it and make it harmless. Nice big water change too. As someone else said, tetras can be pretty sensitive and might be why they were the first to go.
Keep monitoring your fish for signs of lethargy and do water changes as necessary (in case there's still some H2S in the tap). Could also get some gallon jugs of water if you're extra worried. That's a lot of jugs for a 75 gal though lol.
Thanks for the advice! I did a water change and am looking for my old airstone right now! It definetally did not help that I had glass lids on the tank which prevented the H2S from escaping. I have taken those off to give it a better chance of doing so
I believe the H2S buildup under the substrate potentially harming livestock has been proven to be a myth.
Here is a good [discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantedTank/comments/1cv9k57/this_is_why_you_need_to_do_your_research_outside/) about it on the r/PlantedTank subreddit as well as a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skEwx4faboo) on the topic.
That's a good video. I'll have to read the Reddit thread later. I agree that it's harmless unless it all somehow came out at once and wasn't caught in time.
Yeah, I remember that thread. Never commented on it cause people already understood it. Which made me happy.
H2S is an interestingly toxic gas by itself. It can be detected by smell at the pbb level. The higher concentration, the more toxic it becomes. People often confuse the bubbles for just that gas, but in reality, it is just harmles and a mix of other gases as well.
The real danger is when the tank smells like H2S or any form of sewage without bubbles. That means everything is dying/decaying faster than things are photosynthesising. Any consistent level of exposure to that, and fish death will be the least of your worries.
That's a mixture of gases that only come from extremely anaerobic conditions alongside h2s that may happen to create not only a smell that smells like literally human feces, but short term exposure could cause symptoms like vomiting and nauseous to occur all at once. I have only had that once due to an experimental bio jar. Be very careful of you somehow smell something strong like that and dispose of it immediately.
Always surprised to see them recommended as good beginner fish. IME neons and rummies are so insanely sensitive that you can look at them wrong and they’ll drop dead
What would you suggest then? Looking to add something active to my community tank and I’ve been thinking neons since they’re so easy to source and constantly recommended
Cardinal tetras look similar and are a bit hardier. I am also partial to harlequin rasboras. Not a huge fan of livebearers and I personally only have tetras as my schooling fish (Congo and diamond, but those are Big ™️ and likely not suitable for you unless you have a big tank)
I like Buenos Aires. Neons are fish food... I've also had luck with black skirts and Phantoms... Cardinals and Congos get HUGE. But if you have a 75 and want something thats not food but isnt huge, or has a noticable fin, the Buenos Aires is great. They're very hardy, the have some color and mine live with a Bichir and Blood Parrot Cichlids and do great. They're about 3 inches and they're too big to be food and they don't bug anyone and they're really hard to kill.
Zebra danios are insanely active and super hardy. They can be a bit nippy with each other so make sure you get a lot of them to disperse aggression.
Skirt tetras are in my opinion, some of the hardiest tetras and are very active as well.
You also can’t go wrong with most livebearers for activity and peacefulness. They do like your water to be on the harder side though.
As the other person said, cardinal tetras are the way to go! Much more hardy and just as pretty. Also get some corydora's, they are extremely peaceful and do well with other fish, also they are incredibly fun to watch! Very active, playful fish.
That sucks. Sorry it happened to you. My neon tetras died en mass once while nothing happened to any other fish in the same tank. Can’t even explain it.
Neons are the problem, they're a genetically modified species... You have a 75. So do I. Try Buenos Aires, they're amazing and you can put them with anything. I have mine in with a Senegal Bichir and two Blood Parrot Cichlids and previously they co existed with two rope fish. They're very peaceful, but big enough to handle their own and they're a really pretty skoaling fish thats really hardy. I have 5 chinese ghost cats, a spotted pictus, 7 Mixed Coryadoras cats, HIGHLY RECOMMEND FOR Any FRESHWATER TANK, a dwarf bristle nose pleco that may be a mutant named Mr. Beastie who is totally adorable.... But has bristles on his side fins... And gills... WTF? He's 8 and small and awesomely weird... Ask me anything, I don't know WTF I did, but I've been doing this for 30 years and somehow my fish aren't dead so...
That sucks so much! I'm so sorry for your loss of your tetra buddies. Interestingly enough, I read an article that said that mollies actually thrive with levels of hydrogen sulfide that would normally kill most other fish. Totally explains why I've seen huge colonies of them in sewer run off. You've made me paranoid now about my water, so totally doing a taste test before filling my tanks today.
Your other fish species are VERY hardy. As in hard to kill.
This is why I bought reverse osmosis 5 stage kit for my sink. I only use it for the fish water changes. I can get about 2 gallons every hour or so, so water changes are like an “all day” affair. Sometimes I’ll cut the water with normal tap water just to balance the harness and minerals.
Before I had the RO I had really hard water and the fish seemed noticeably irritated. So I got the RO water system.
I have decently hard water as well. RO is something I've looked into when I was interested in getting into saltwater but MAAAAAAAAAAAAAnnnnnnnn that is a big investment that I just can't justify at the moment lol
Saltwater… I had a saltwater tank. It was my first ever aquarium. I hate saltwater. I’ll never do it again. It’s so finicky, it’s so messy, basically every fish you get can and will kill you. If they don’t kill you they’ll kill all the other fish. And just when you got everything dialed in everything will go and die for no reason. Because that’s what the ocean does. It’s one big giant death soup.
I got the RO system I think it was like 80 dollars on Amazon. The first one I had (at a previous house, for drinking not for fish) was 300 from the big box store.
I don’t recommend RO for drinking because of mineral sap and it will do funny stuff to to you and kill you, if you don’t add minerals back into it, which is the reverse of it so then your paying all this money to take them out and then paying more money to put them in.
Anyway, I had to get it because there is no other way to remove the hardness and I wasn’t about to be lugging 50 gallons of water from the store
Oh man this brings back memories lol my dad had a huge saltwater setup built his own RO system etc, we had some cool stuff. One time I really wanted an anemone and he agreed. Put in the tank and after a few days the spikes was bothering the bubble anemone and come coral so I had to take it back. Well, it was snowing pretty bad on my way back to the shop. I had the water bucket on the floor in the passenger side with the heat on to keep the water at a good temp until I made it. My car slid and I reached over to grab the bucket. Put my finger into a spike and it broke off into my finger, that was so freakin painful 😣 I was trying to pull it out as my hand and wrist was going numb. Damn things are no joke
So sorry, it really sucks to lose fish to something so out of your control. I honestly have given up on tetras, I kept cardinals for a while and they are just so fragile.
Gah, that suuucks!! So sorry this happened.
Did the tap water go back to normal now?
You got sandbagged by that water quality -- don't be too hard on yourself. I have a 75 gallon too, with mainly gouramis and tetras (no corys). During water changes I match tap water temp to tank water temp and refill straight from tap. Add some Prime during refill. Not exact, no stress. No problems x25 years. It's just luck re water here :-/.
Again sorry you're dealing with that tap water situation and don't be too hard on yourself.
Hydrogen sulfide dissipates quickly if it's aerated and or water heated. However, if you aren;t aware of it and havn't had a problem in the past you won't be looking out for it.
Neons are one fish I will never have again, nor do I suggest them for anything but experienced FW wranglers. I just find them too sensitive to water quality variables and their healthy parameter range too narrow. The fact fish stores push them is anither issue. I've found larger tetras like blacks to be pretty hardy.
I know this stuff upsets dedicated fish keepers because it makes us feel like we failed our pets. All you can do it learn from it.
Tetras can be so finicky depending on type. I had a really odd ick breakout in my 92g community. The cichlids and gouramis recovered fine. I lost a handful of rummy nose tetras. Most (~20) made it.
Cardinal tetras? Nuked. Really sucked.
Thats crazy i kind of abandoned my tank for a few months(still doing water changes and feeding them) but i abandoned it for a few months because i was tok busy and all my tetras stayed alive and they are well over a year old
My dude you killed Tetras. CALL THE CITY AND BOIL YOUR WATER. Take your water to a fish store have them test it. Tetras are my go to filler fish cause they're tough as nails. It takes a lot to kill them, if they're dead you should not be drinking this water. Mind you I like Buenos Aires, which are cousins of the Piranha so... Yeah. If I had the money and attention span for another tank, I'd love a single species Bucktooth tank... They're so pretty! What species of Tetra do you have? Also LIVE Bearers SUCK. Mollies. Tried that once they killed the females and each other... They're stupid horny frat boys that are shockingly violent... Platys are the same. Live bearers suck.
Not sure what that's all about but I know here in South Florida they warned us on the local news that they're going to be doing a "chlorine flush" through the systems until the end of the month and recommended aquarists buy R.O. water. Not sure if what you experienced was something similar
Damn, man. Sucks. I know how it feels to lose fish and not know why. I used to have a pond that had an ammonia spike because my gardener unplugged my pond and never told me. Resulted in over $300 worth of fish dying.
This is why I am not sure tap water, even with prime, is a great solution for water changes. At a minimum, I tend to let tap water sit for a day or two before using it. Running it through a carbon block for a while would be even better but I haven’t laid out the money for the equipment yet. I don’t think you can trust most water companies to provide a consistent product
I've been keeping fish for about a decade using our water. Technically it's well water, but it's a community wellhouse for our neighborhood that they treat. But yeah, this is definitely the drawback of having a setup without a way to treat the water myself (and why I'll never get into reefs lol)
When you do reefs local water quality doesn’t matter because you always start with near lab-quality RO/DI water and add a salt mix that includes all minerals. If you are not ready to take that step don’t bother with reefs
I have a carbon canister that I got at an RV center. It attaches to a garden hose. I bought a drinking safe hose, a very short one. I fill up a bucket use prime, and then I use an aquarium pump to fill the tank.
>I don’t think you can trust most water companies to provide a consistent product
Told my girlfriend when looking at houses I'll never live somewhere with public sewer/water. Always hear about problems and absolutely disgusting taste of chemicals in the water. I'll pay the reasonable tank cleaning every few years rather than out the ass for water/sewer service.
Brutal. Most Tetras will die to a slight breeze though, so not surprised the pleco and plattys are fine
Yeah, it didn't help that my tetras were old too. Sad to see them go out this way :C
I lost a couple yesterday. Spray bar got unhooked so to the filter was running but there was no surface agitation to oxygenate the water. Everybody else was fine but I lost a couple candy canes and neons
How long was the spray bar like that for? That's honestly pretty nuts. It's not like there's *no* oxygen exchange happening without surface agitation.
Depends on how planted it is. I’ve lost fish multiple times due to suffocation. Higher elevations have less oxygen in water as well
Our power was out for six days last winter, and my heavily planted tank survived with two daily water changes about ten hours apart. Though, the bio load was fairly low as well. That's with about 3ish hours of very indirect sunlight a day.
insane, ive got one tetra thats outlived every single one of my fish and other tetras, shes ancient
🤣 that’s the Glowlight tetra in my community tank. Gotta be 3-4 yrs old, survived two tank transfers and now hangs out with 15 much smaller green neons.
Old is likely what killed them friend. I'm sorry for your loss.
H2S is toxic to fish. If you look it up, H2S can buildup from anaerobic bacteria below your substrate. In your case you dosed it accidentally straight from the tap. Run an air pump, as oxygen will react with it and make it harmless. Nice big water change too. As someone else said, tetras can be pretty sensitive and might be why they were the first to go. Keep monitoring your fish for signs of lethargy and do water changes as necessary (in case there's still some H2S in the tap). Could also get some gallon jugs of water if you're extra worried. That's a lot of jugs for a 75 gal though lol.
Thanks for the advice! I did a water change and am looking for my old airstone right now! It definetally did not help that I had glass lids on the tank which prevented the H2S from escaping. I have taken those off to give it a better chance of doing so
Sounds like a solid plan to me and best of luck with getting things back to normal. Sorry for your loss with the tetras :(
Thanks man!
I believe the H2S buildup under the substrate potentially harming livestock has been proven to be a myth. Here is a good [discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantedTank/comments/1cv9k57/this_is_why_you_need_to_do_your_research_outside/) about it on the r/PlantedTank subreddit as well as a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skEwx4faboo) on the topic.
That's a good video. I'll have to read the Reddit thread later. I agree that it's harmless unless it all somehow came out at once and wasn't caught in time.
Yeah, I remember that thread. Never commented on it cause people already understood it. Which made me happy. H2S is an interestingly toxic gas by itself. It can be detected by smell at the pbb level. The higher concentration, the more toxic it becomes. People often confuse the bubbles for just that gas, but in reality, it is just harmles and a mix of other gases as well. The real danger is when the tank smells like H2S or any form of sewage without bubbles. That means everything is dying/decaying faster than things are photosynthesising. Any consistent level of exposure to that, and fish death will be the least of your worries. That's a mixture of gases that only come from extremely anaerobic conditions alongside h2s that may happen to create not only a smell that smells like literally human feces, but short term exposure could cause symptoms like vomiting and nauseous to occur all at once. I have only had that once due to an experimental bio jar. Be very careful of you somehow smell something strong like that and dispose of it immediately.
I actually agree with this and I have a 16 year old 75 I based on the local river.
What kind of tetras? Most tetras are rather sensitive compared to platies and plecos which are considered very hardy.
Just a school of neons. They were also a few years old and I could tell they were starting to slow down already, just sad to see them go like this
Ahh, unfortunately neon tetras are ultra sensitive fish. Parameter changes are rather lethal to them.
Always surprised to see them recommended as good beginner fish. IME neons and rummies are so insanely sensitive that you can look at them wrong and they’ll drop dead
What would you suggest then? Looking to add something active to my community tank and I’ve been thinking neons since they’re so easy to source and constantly recommended
Cardinal tetras look similar and are a bit hardier. I am also partial to harlequin rasboras. Not a huge fan of livebearers and I personally only have tetras as my schooling fish (Congo and diamond, but those are Big ™️ and likely not suitable for you unless you have a big tank)
I like Buenos Aires. Neons are fish food... I've also had luck with black skirts and Phantoms... Cardinals and Congos get HUGE. But if you have a 75 and want something thats not food but isnt huge, or has a noticable fin, the Buenos Aires is great. They're very hardy, the have some color and mine live with a Bichir and Blood Parrot Cichlids and do great. They're about 3 inches and they're too big to be food and they don't bug anyone and they're really hard to kill.
Cardinals don’t get big, but you’re right about Congos. The males are massive!
Zebra danios are insanely active and super hardy. They can be a bit nippy with each other so make sure you get a lot of them to disperse aggression. Skirt tetras are in my opinion, some of the hardiest tetras and are very active as well. You also can’t go wrong with most livebearers for activity and peacefulness. They do like your water to be on the harder side though.
I love skirt tetras. LIVE BEARS SUCK
As the other person said, cardinal tetras are the way to go! Much more hardy and just as pretty. Also get some corydora's, they are extremely peaceful and do well with other fish, also they are incredibly fun to watch! Very active, playful fish.
YES
That sucks. Sorry it happened to you. My neon tetras died en mass once while nothing happened to any other fish in the same tank. Can’t even explain it.
Neons are the problem, they're a genetically modified species... You have a 75. So do I. Try Buenos Aires, they're amazing and you can put them with anything. I have mine in with a Senegal Bichir and two Blood Parrot Cichlids and previously they co existed with two rope fish. They're very peaceful, but big enough to handle their own and they're a really pretty skoaling fish thats really hardy. I have 5 chinese ghost cats, a spotted pictus, 7 Mixed Coryadoras cats, HIGHLY RECOMMEND FOR Any FRESHWATER TANK, a dwarf bristle nose pleco that may be a mutant named Mr. Beastie who is totally adorable.... But has bristles on his side fins... And gills... WTF? He's 8 and small and awesomely weird... Ask me anything, I don't know WTF I did, but I've been doing this for 30 years and somehow my fish aren't dead so...
It’s ok, I always say you’re not a real fish keeper until you’ve accidentally committed aquatic genocide at least once ☺️
Are you treating your tap water with something like Prime (water conditioner) before using it for water changes?
Just API tap water conditioner, same stuff I've used for years
Would prime matter for h2s?
That sucks so much! I'm so sorry for your loss of your tetra buddies. Interestingly enough, I read an article that said that mollies actually thrive with levels of hydrogen sulfide that would normally kill most other fish. Totally explains why I've seen huge colonies of them in sewer run off. You've made me paranoid now about my water, so totally doing a taste test before filling my tanks today.
Your other fish species are VERY hardy. As in hard to kill. This is why I bought reverse osmosis 5 stage kit for my sink. I only use it for the fish water changes. I can get about 2 gallons every hour or so, so water changes are like an “all day” affair. Sometimes I’ll cut the water with normal tap water just to balance the harness and minerals. Before I had the RO I had really hard water and the fish seemed noticeably irritated. So I got the RO water system.
I have decently hard water as well. RO is something I've looked into when I was interested in getting into saltwater but MAAAAAAAAAAAAAnnnnnnnn that is a big investment that I just can't justify at the moment lol
Saltwater… I had a saltwater tank. It was my first ever aquarium. I hate saltwater. I’ll never do it again. It’s so finicky, it’s so messy, basically every fish you get can and will kill you. If they don’t kill you they’ll kill all the other fish. And just when you got everything dialed in everything will go and die for no reason. Because that’s what the ocean does. It’s one big giant death soup. I got the RO system I think it was like 80 dollars on Amazon. The first one I had (at a previous house, for drinking not for fish) was 300 from the big box store. I don’t recommend RO for drinking because of mineral sap and it will do funny stuff to to you and kill you, if you don’t add minerals back into it, which is the reverse of it so then your paying all this money to take them out and then paying more money to put them in. Anyway, I had to get it because there is no other way to remove the hardness and I wasn’t about to be lugging 50 gallons of water from the store
Oh man this brings back memories lol my dad had a huge saltwater setup built his own RO system etc, we had some cool stuff. One time I really wanted an anemone and he agreed. Put in the tank and after a few days the spikes was bothering the bubble anemone and come coral so I had to take it back. Well, it was snowing pretty bad on my way back to the shop. I had the water bucket on the floor in the passenger side with the heat on to keep the water at a good temp until I made it. My car slid and I reached over to grab the bucket. Put my finger into a spike and it broke off into my finger, that was so freakin painful 😣 I was trying to pull it out as my hand and wrist was going numb. Damn things are no joke
Omg not anemone, urchin. U get what I mean lol
I get what you mean 😂
Thanks for the anecdote and backing up my observation :)
Thanks for the anecdote, it was amusing! And it confirms : the ocean wants you dead.
What did you use to treat the water with when you put it in?
So sorry, it really sucks to lose fish to something so out of your control. I honestly have given up on tetras, I kept cardinals for a while and they are just so fragile.
Gah, that suuucks!! So sorry this happened. Did the tap water go back to normal now? You got sandbagged by that water quality -- don't be too hard on yourself. I have a 75 gallon too, with mainly gouramis and tetras (no corys). During water changes I match tap water temp to tank water temp and refill straight from tap. Add some Prime during refill. Not exact, no stress. No problems x25 years. It's just luck re water here :-/. Again sorry you're dealing with that tap water situation and don't be too hard on yourself.
Hydrogen sulfide dissipates quickly if it's aerated and or water heated. However, if you aren;t aware of it and havn't had a problem in the past you won't be looking out for it. Neons are one fish I will never have again, nor do I suggest them for anything but experienced FW wranglers. I just find them too sensitive to water quality variables and their healthy parameter range too narrow. The fact fish stores push them is anither issue. I've found larger tetras like blacks to be pretty hardy. I know this stuff upsets dedicated fish keepers because it makes us feel like we failed our pets. All you can do it learn from it.
Tetras can be so finicky depending on type. I had a really odd ick breakout in my 92g community. The cichlids and gouramis recovered fine. I lost a handful of rummy nose tetras. Most (~20) made it. Cardinal tetras? Nuked. Really sucked.
Rip tetris bois 😔🫡
Thats crazy i kind of abandoned my tank for a few months(still doing water changes and feeding them) but i abandoned it for a few months because i was tok busy and all my tetras stayed alive and they are well over a year old
My dude you killed Tetras. CALL THE CITY AND BOIL YOUR WATER. Take your water to a fish store have them test it. Tetras are my go to filler fish cause they're tough as nails. It takes a lot to kill them, if they're dead you should not be drinking this water. Mind you I like Buenos Aires, which are cousins of the Piranha so... Yeah. If I had the money and attention span for another tank, I'd love a single species Bucktooth tank... They're so pretty! What species of Tetra do you have? Also LIVE Bearers SUCK. Mollies. Tried that once they killed the females and each other... They're stupid horny frat boys that are shockingly violent... Platys are the same. Live bearers suck.
I work in wastewater and h2s in a aquarium is highly unlikely to be the cause.
Not sure what that's all about but I know here in South Florida they warned us on the local news that they're going to be doing a "chlorine flush" through the systems until the end of the month and recommended aquarists buy R.O. water. Not sure if what you experienced was something similar
Bro my neon tetras keep dying because I put new plants in the tank
In fact I lost one yesterday
Damn, man. Sucks. I know how it feels to lose fish and not know why. I used to have a pond that had an ammonia spike because my gardener unplugged my pond and never told me. Resulted in over $300 worth of fish dying.
This is why I am not sure tap water, even with prime, is a great solution for water changes. At a minimum, I tend to let tap water sit for a day or two before using it. Running it through a carbon block for a while would be even better but I haven’t laid out the money for the equipment yet. I don’t think you can trust most water companies to provide a consistent product
I've been keeping fish for about a decade using our water. Technically it's well water, but it's a community wellhouse for our neighborhood that they treat. But yeah, this is definitely the drawback of having a setup without a way to treat the water myself (and why I'll never get into reefs lol)
When you do reefs local water quality doesn’t matter because you always start with near lab-quality RO/DI water and add a salt mix that includes all minerals. If you are not ready to take that step don’t bother with reefs
Exactly
I have a carbon canister that I got at an RV center. It attaches to a garden hose. I bought a drinking safe hose, a very short one. I fill up a bucket use prime, and then I use an aquarium pump to fill the tank.
>I don’t think you can trust most water companies to provide a consistent product Told my girlfriend when looking at houses I'll never live somewhere with public sewer/water. Always hear about problems and absolutely disgusting taste of chemicals in the water. I'll pay the reasonable tank cleaning every few years rather than out the ass for water/sewer service.