Gerbil has red nose

[linkasaurus]

Yesterday I noticed one of my girls (Eggroll) has gotten a bit of red mucousy looking stuff on her nose. Eggroll had this (along with red tears) when I first got her a year ago. I did some research and quickly discovered she was allergic to her bedding (Carefresh) and promptly replaced the bedding with a Kaytee/Aspen mixture.
Her nose (and eyes) have been doing great up until yesterday, although now I'm not sure what the cause is!
My girls live in a 20g tank with a topper. Their bedding is Kaytee/Aspen mixed with some handfulls of National Geographic. They have cardboard tubes (glue-free), several boxes, and a coconut hidey. They chew on (i believe) apple sticks from Petsmart and have some wooden toys from walmart. They also have timothy hay and gerri gerbil food mixed with oxbow.
If you need any other information please tell me!
I just want my girl to be healthy, but for the life of me I cannot see what is causing this.

[eleda]

How long has her nose been irritated? My gerbil Jean Luc sometimes gets a fussy nose if he's exposed to an inordinate amount of dust, like when I clean the tank and/or let him take a bath. But it normally goes away on its own in a couple of days. Most of the time he doesn't have any problems. so, if it hasnt been long perhaps this is what is happening with eggroll? Oh, the timothy hay sometimes makes his nose flare up briefly, but again I think its a dust thing

[linkasaurus]

It's been about 2 days, I believe. I handle them every day and I think I would have noticed it earlier (but then again..who knows?). I cleaned up their tank today just in case.
Thanks for your response! I feel like it may be a dust thing because their tank did look a bit dustier than normal. I'll keep an eye on her and see if it clears up after I've cleaned it.

[eleda]

that doesn't sound too bad then. if it doesn't clear back up in the next few days, it could be an allergy (im guessing) but the only way i know of to confirm that is to get new bedding again.

one more thought - ive heard carefresh is pretty dusty, so maybe thats what its been all along.

[linkasaurus]

Just a small update on my babes.
While Eggroll's nose has gotten slightly better, Cocoa's nose is now red too.
I havent had time to do another cage cleanout but I'll be free tomorrow afternoon to do a deep clean.
I may try just using aspen and toilet paper/paper towel as their bedding.
I honestly have no idea what to do, I'm so worried.