Help ID Pesky Fungi Growing in Water

[BobMaine]

I have an orange or rusty colored, gelatinous fungi (?) growing in the wet areas of my cellar and also in the drinking water for the farm animals (where I work) When the water is first put into the water tanks at the farm it is clear but after four of five hours there is an oil sheen on the surface. The next day there is an orange tinge throughout the water and in another day the water is cloudy with the stuff. If the tank is left to set the organisms will precipitate to the bottom. The water is from a dug well at the bottom of a large pasture about 100 yards from the sheep.

In my cellar (I live about 10 miles from the farm) I also have this stuff growing. It will get so thick and gelatinous it will plug the drain for the water. Dumping bleach or muriatic acid on it gets rid of the stuff in the cellar but it always comes back. I live on an island off the coast of Maine and almost all homes out here are built on granite ledge and water tends to flow through the cracks in the granite and most cellars here have some water in them.

The sheep drink the water and don't show any ill effects but we do change the water frequently.

I'm calling it a fungi but I don't know this for sure. I also wondered if it was a slime mold or maybe even some kind of flox due to iron in the water. I know if you dump bleach into this farm water a precipitate of the same color occurs.

I would like to know what this stuff is what can be done to get rid of it.

I've included some photos here.

http://bobmaine.imgur.com/fungi#19wzy

Thanks for any help,
Bob

[JackBean]

are you sure it's not corroded iron?

[BobMaine]

Someone else looked at it and offered the same explanation. Not sure how to confirm one way or the other....

[JackBean]

put it into something without iron and see, whether will it be able to grow