Paranoid thermometer question

[RightTurnClyde]

I have one of those standard glass thermometers with a suction cup attached inside my 10G tank. It's the cheapo kind with the little gray balls in the bottom and a red, waxy bit right above it. Is that red stuff just wax to keep everything in place? The actual red alcohol that actually provides the reading seems to be contained inside a tube within the outer tube. The reason I ask is that some of the red waxy part looks like it has "leaked" down into the gray balls. As far as I know it has been like this since I've owned it. I just want to make sure this is normal, and I'm not losing any of the alcohol from the main tube.

It seems like my temp goes down a lot easier than it used to. I first noticed it with my old heater and have recently upgraded to an Aqueon pro heater and it still happens.

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Nevermind, I think I answered my own question with some google-fu. I took out the thermometer and wiped it down, and now it's reading more like what I would expect. Maybe it just had some mung on it that was somehow insulating it? Weird stuff.