I have no idea what you were doing to your toilet. It's a ball and flush ball seal combo. The seal is set into a lip. To remove wear a glove it you choose and grab the edge of the seal and pull towards the center of the hole and remove.
Now the seal is removed scrub it til it's clean. Now apply a thin layer of Vaseline to the bottom surface and carefully install with the ball closed by pushing it into place. Once mostly set open the ball and finish pushing the seal into place. Always be careful NOT to drop the seal down the hole!!!
You probably just knocked off some of the crystalized "STUFF" when pushing on the seal.