I desperately need some advice on what to do with my starter. The starter is now almost three years old and has sometimes been left in the fridge while we've been travelling for a few weeks, but it has always come back to life. Usually after being in the fridge though, it has had an oxidised thick crusty layer on top that I've just discarded and just moved the starter to a clean jar after that. The thick layer has usually had a matt velvety surface, but no discolouration, streaks or weird blotches or anything. Sometimes it's had a couple of white dry peaks on the parts that have maybe sat a little higher on the starter's surface, but they have never been fuzzy and I've always just thought it had dried out a little. I've almost always had a clean paper towel between the jar and the lid (because I thought you were supposed to let the starter breathe), but now I think that has been the reason the starter has oxides and dried out in the fridge. I haven't baked with my starter in a while, but now I'm starting to hesitate about continuing on with it, because I can't be totally sure the velvety layer has not been mould. I've been googling it countless times but have not found anything that would give me an indication toward what to do, because none of the mouldy starter pictures I've seen have looked like the problem I've had. I've continued feeding it, but now I'm not totally sure it's safe to bake with. Would a mouldy starter continue to act normally, if you continued feeding it and is there a way to tell if the started is safe to use now? I've always used bread and rye flours to feed it with equal amounts of flour and water.

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