Slimy red stuff in cats drinking fountain?

[gimli]

I wasn't sure where to put this, so sorry if I put it in the wrong area!

Anyhow, a while back I purchased an aquacube for my cats, since they seem to be crazy for running water. We had a water bowl, always clean and filled, but if we ran the tap anywhere, both would be running for it and drinking the drops of water left. They love the fountain, but still sneak drinks from the faucets every now and then.

Anyhow, my problem is... I clean my aquacube every week, since I change the filter every week as well I decided to just get it out of the way. This time around, there was SO MUCH of this rust-red slimy gunk within the actual pump. It was disgusting! I have no idea if it's algae or mold or what! I scrubbed it out with scalding hot water and soap and then let it soak in bleach that was extremely diluted with water (the site said to do this -- but I only put in a few drops, I didn't want my cats getting sick from any left over residue I'm a worry wart!). After scrubbing it out again and rinsing it a million times to make sure any traces of bleach were gone , I got all the red gunk out, but my question is... what is it! And how did it get in there?! Is it harmful to my cats?

They both haven't been acting sick or anything; they're their normal, perky selves. Since I found it, I've been keeping an eye on them, but they're being rowdy and playful as usual.

Either way, it had a smell I can only describe as smelling faintly like bologna and I was totally freaked out by seeing it. Is there any way to prevent it from happening again?

 

[mani]

Hi Gimli... A few questions:

Are you using tap water?  How often do you change the water?  Was the gunk in the filter or other parts of the aquacube?

 

[gimli]

We do use tap water since we don't have any filtration system for the faucet (although... the water from the bathroom tastes cleaner IMO so maybe I should start using that?), we change the water twice a week, and the gunk was just in the filter area. It wasn't in the bowl, but it was starting to leak out through the part where the water comes out through the fountain. Basically, it was just in the dark areas of the bowl, which I'm afraid it might mean mold

 

[mani]

I could be mould, or just the build up from the tap water, or a mix of both.  It's amazing what can come out of tap water.

I think it may be a case of changing the water constantly and cleaning more regularly.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Perhaps try buying a few gallons of water at the grocery store and see if that helps?  I have well water so I had to buy it by the gallons for my kids to make their formula when they were babies; it's less than a dollar a gallon at Walmart.  That might be a good way to see if it reoccurs.  I've never had a problem like that with our fountains.  

 

[goholistic]

The same thing used to happen to my fountains when I was using tap water. I even started using a Brita, and it still made the pink/red slimy stuff.  I think it's just the make-up of the water in our area (minerals, etc.) and what happens to it after it sits for few days. I clean my fountains about every other day, and I've just recently switched to buying gallon jugs of purified water. Yes, it is more expensive, but it has virtually stopped the yuckiness. I still clean the fountains frequently, but it's not such a pain since I don't have spend forever scrubbing the nastiness out of them.