It comes from all the decay and bacterial growth, which is perfectly normal and the main diet for most of the critters found in jars. However, your jar has way too much of it and no healthy aquatic plant to offset all of that. At least not that I can see.
Also, avoid sunlight at all cost, it’ll make it so much worse.
I’ve only experienced this kind of thick white surface biofilm in a planted aquarium that had a severe excess of nutrients (used organic potting soil as a base layer that must have had added fertilisers). It wasn’t fixable, I had to start over. You likely had too much organic material, which decayed and released a lot of ammonia.
It may be stinky, but opening the jar up to dump it doesn’t pose a health risk provided you wash your hands after and don’t get splashed in the eyes, etc.
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You are dealing with what’s called biofilm.
It comes from all the decay and bacterial growth, which is perfectly normal and the main diet for most of the critters found in jars. However, your jar has way too much of it and no healthy aquatic plant to offset all of that. At least not that I can see.
Also, avoid sunlight at all cost, it’ll make it so much worse.
Here’s a good read on it:
[https://tanninaquatics.com/blogs/the-tint-1/a-refresher-on-biofilms-and-the-creatures-who-love-them](https://tanninaquatics.com/blogs/the-tint-1/a-refresher-on-biofilms-and-the-creatures-who-love-them)
Looks like yeasts that form on top of ferments
I’ve only experienced this kind of thick white surface biofilm in a planted aquarium that had a severe excess of nutrients (used organic potting soil as a base layer that must have had added fertilisers). It wasn’t fixable, I had to start over. You likely had too much organic material, which decayed and released a lot of ammonia.
It may be stinky, but opening the jar up to dump it doesn’t pose a health risk provided you wash your hands after and don’t get splashed in the eyes, etc.