55 Gallon Tank White cotton stuff on glass?

I have cloudy water and white cotton like stuff on my tank glass. When I went to bed (11pm) last night it was crystal clear but when I woke up (6am) it was super cloudy with the white stuff. I had my tank light off all night. I wiped the cotton like stuff off with a sponge and added water clarifier to help but nothing is helping. I am afraid I will lose my fish. I have the light off again now. What is this and how do I get rid of it?

Last tank cleaning was 10/31/2020
My tank has been cycled for about 2 months
My other tanks are clear water with no issues

 

How thorough was your tank cleaning? If you removed too much beneficial bacteria, you may be seeing a bloom of sorts, and it should clear up on its own.

Any pictures?

 

How thorough was your tank cleaning? If you removed too much beneficial bacteria, you may be seeing a bloom of sorts, and it should clear up on its own.

Any pictures?

I cleaned the glass with my algae sponge siphoned the gravel and replaced water adding prime. I moved everything I could to get the gravel cleaned. Here is a photo and you will see the guppy fry in it too so you can see how bad it is. The whole tank looks like this.

 

Since this is a fairly new cycle I think you may have over cleaned it. I wouldn't deep clean until a tank is at least 6 months old. That amount of time should be enough to get it well established.

I agree with Mhamilton0911 I think it is just going to take time to get back where it was before the deep cleaning. If you need to gravel vac during the 6 months just do part of it each week.

 

Since this is a fairly new cycle I think you may have over cleaned it. I wouldn't deep clean until a tank is at least 6 months old. That amount of time should be enough to get it well established.

I agree with Mhamilton0911 I think it is just going to take time to get back where it was before the deep cleaning. If you need to gravel vac during the 6 months just do part of it each week.

How do I fix this mess or do I just wait it out?

 

How do I fix this mess or do I just wait it out?

I think you will just have to wait it out. I know we hate to see this but if you are sure you added your water conditioner it should clear up in a few days.

Often trying to "fix" something will just make it worse.

 

I think you will just have to wait it out. I know we hate to see this but if you are sure you added your water conditioner it should clear up in a few days.

Often trying to "fix" something will just make it worse.

Without fail I always add conditioner and this morning i added clarifier (normally I dont use clarifier) because of how bad it is.

 

Without fail I always add conditioner and this morning i added clarifier (normally I dont use clarifier) because of how bad it is.

The clarifier may help but it also may prolong the cloudy water. It is often better to just let something like this run its course. Since we have an idea as to what caused it we have to think time will clear it. It shouldn't take long for the lost bacteria to catch back up to the bio-load.

Although my tanks are well established I occasionally experience some slightly cloudy water when I do a bit too much cleaning or re-arranging. Not quite as much as you are seeing but cloudy nonetheless. Mine normally only lasts a few hours.

 

I tend to see this all the time when setting up a new blackwater tank. In my experience it is just a bacterial bloom. Since botanicals contribute to part of the bio-load, the bacteria last longer. Yours is not a blackwater, nor does it have botanicals, but it still can experience the same issues. Personally I almost never clean my tanks, not because I'm lazy or irresponsible but because every one of them uses the Walstad method! Fantastic philosophy that I've been using for about a decade. It doesn't completely avoid maintenance but definitely decreases the amount of times needed to keep your tank in tip top shape! I mean, seriously, a 15% water change needed only once every 8 months in a heavily-planted 20 gallon with a Betta, 3 Otocinclus, and 3 Amano? Who can get better than that!? But anyway, enough talking about me! As others have mentioned before, just leave it be! When I experience this with my blackwater tanks, for example, it usually goes away in about 2 weeks at the most. So stay strong, be patient, and enjoy your beautiful tanks!

 

I tend to see this all the time when setting up a new blackwater tank. In my experience it is just a bacterial bloom. Since botanicals contribute to part of the bio-load, the bacteria last longer. Yours is not a blackwater, nor does it have botanicals, but it still can experience the same issues. Personally I almost never clean my tanks, not because I'm lazy or irresponsible but because every one of them uses the Walstad method! Fantastic philosophy that I've been using for about a decade. It doesn't completely avoid maintenance but definitely decreases the amount of times needed to keep your tank in tip top shape! I mean, seriously, a 15% water change needed only once every 8 months in a heavily-planted 20 gallon with a Betta, 3 Otocinclus, and 3 Amano? Who can get better than that!? But anyway, enough talking about me! As others have mentioned before, just leave it be! When I experience this with my blackwater tanks, for example, it usually goes away in about 2 weeks at the most. So stay strong, be patient, and enjoy your beautiful tanks!

I am a newer fish keeper so I will have to look into most of what you said to understand it. I was just in shock I had never seen anything like this before.

 

The clarifier may help but it also may prolong the cloudy water. It is often better to just let something like this run its course. Since we have an idea as to what caused it we have to think time will clear it. It shouldn't take long for the lost bacteria to catch back up to the bio-load.

Although my tanks are well established I occasionally experience some slightly cloudy water when I do a bit too much cleaning or re-arranging. Not quite as much as you are seeing but cloudy nonetheless. Mine normally only lasts a few hours.

The sad thing is there isnt much of a bio load. I have 1 snail, 2 platies, 2 guppies, and about 13 babies.

 

The sad thing is there isnt much of a bio load. I have 1 snail, 2 platies, 2 guppies, and about 13 babies.

That is plenty. Bio-load simply means the amount of ammonia the living creatures in your tank produce. The tank will grow enough bacteria to clear out the ammonia they produce.