It does sound like what you're describing is an iron/rust problem. If you have city water, you can call your local water works to find out for sure. If you have well water, you can have your water tested, which is recommended, anyway. My parents have horrible rust problems with their well water and they finally had a system installed called The Iron Curtain, lol, and now they don't have any rust in their water at all. Reverse osmosis systems will take it out, too, but they're expensive, from what I understand.
If it's a pinkish-red, it could be mold.
But, if it's an orangish-red, then it's rust.