Diatoms would be my guess. Pics kinda blurry. Are you running your lights all day? Your water looks like it has a green tinge to it. Possible algae bloom?
Yes I run them 24/7. 5am-8pm daylight and 8pm- moonlight. I did a phosphate test and it was .25 so the lights are off tonight b and tomorrow to try and fight it without adding anything to the tank during the cycle
No skimmer necessary during cycle. However many do run them, but for no other reason than to break them in.
Seems you're at the peak of your cycle. Soon you'll see those numbers start to drop [emoji106]
Trust me. I've had way over 8.0 ammonia for 2 weeks. Only benefit is that all my baby snails are getting bigger in my other tank so my cc is dang near complete
I'd do a large water change before adding fish to bring the nitrates down a bit. High nitrates may not kill instantly, but the low water quality will stress them and make them ill, leading to death.