If the leaves and urns looks healthy and the gunk on the leaves are easily removed with you finger. Sounds like a bad case of flies defecating on the neps. Yuk!

And you wiped it off with you finger! Eewwww...!

I'm making a wild guess that the alata being sold at your store is most likely N. X ventrata, a hybird between N. alata & N. ventricosa. It usually sold as N. alata with "red" added to the name. This hybird is quite hardy, is easy to grow, and somwhat resilient to its owners mistakes.

The plant looks like N. alata but the urns do look like alata but a little tuby and it inherits the ruffled rim of ventricosa. It also has inherits on its sword-shape leaves nectar glands that attracts its prey. Especially flies, have you tried taking a peak to see if its clog with flies?

I had flies pooping on my neps and sarracenia before they become fertilizer. I say go for it!

Either way, hope you washed those hands! )-p

Its black fungus, can be sprayed with a fungicide but i would buy them. High humidity and no air circulation causes it. pretty easy to rid of though!