Thanks for the reply, I attempted to try and clean this strip, but found it nearly impossible to wipe it with a q-tip as suggested. I can barely see the strip and it is nearly impossible to get a q-tip into the space to effectively clean that strip.
Unfortunately it looks like I will just have to buy a new printer since sending this in for repair will probably cost about as much as a new printer. I wish this printer was as good as the Canon i9100 that had before it, which is no longer supported on macintosh computers. I can say without a doubt that the pixma ix6820 is the worst printer I ever owned.