frogspawn suddenly shriveling up..?

Just for some background info:
My 80 gallon has been up and running for about 9 months since i switched it from the old 55. Recently i have had a red slime outbreak. i've been dosing with algaefix, as well as scrubbing the tank once a week and scraping up as much red slime as i can.
well about a week and a half ago after cleaning the tank i decided to rearrange the rock and the coral. I thought it would be a good idea to put the two colonies of frogspawn in the middle of the tank where the flow isn't too strong (they were originally directed at a powerhead) since i havent seen them fully extended like they used to be in the 55. a couple days later (i think the same day i was dosing with the algaefix) they shriveled up and have since then retracted into their skeletons. i havent seen them out in at least a week and this is starting to worry me. although i can still see their tentacles, just retracted in the skeleton.
also, my hammer coral has retracted too but not to the extent that the frogspawn has.

my params are:
Calcium- 540
pH- 8.2-8.4
kH- 10
phosphate- 0.25-0.5
nitrate- 20 ppm (which is unusually high because my nitrate level is almost always at 10 ppm)
i know when i was cleaning the tank that i disrupted the sandbed a bit... could this have caused a nitrate spike and in turn caused my frogspawn and hammer to shrivel up? this is my only theory, unless the algaefix has something to do with it?
also, all my other coral, inverts and fish are doing fine.
thanks for any input. i really don't want my 30-something heads of frogspawn to die!

 

Gotteeguy

it could be either of the things you described doing or a combination of all

I would
discontinue the use of algaefix - which I assume you have been using according to instructions dosing every 3rd day , can you tell me more about where you are in terms of doses used please
I have used the product, I did not witness any negative reaction, but I only have Acans, Wellsos etc in the SPS tank it was used in and as such no experience on how your particular species of LPS corals may react to it
I do know from my research and from contributions from other members of this site, that is is possible for some corals to react negatively to the product

also
run some carbon in a reactor or bag in filter etc , to remove from the water any residue of this chemical or anything else that may be causing this reaction


hopefully they will make a full recovery
in the mean time if Cyno is your only issue, you may want to consider other methods of dealing with that problem

increase flow (if possible without blowing your sand bed all over the place)
reduce feedings to reduce nutrients
increased frequency of water changes to syphon away the slime (little and often)

 

Your calcium seems too high. 540. Try getting it down to about 425-450 High calcium burns coral. Hammers and froggys dont like high calcium..u

 

well i did a 50-60% water change using Reef Crystals salt, since i havent done one in a while. and instead of lowering my already high enough calcium ratio, it raised it even more to 600 ppm!
although my frogspawn has come out more than it was (probably from more magnesium and other trace elements from the water change), i'm afraid of the whole colonies collapsing from too much calcium. is there any way to lower the calcium without doing a water change because that would only raise it even more!? or am i doomed?

 

What is your sg at?

 

Would love to chat, bht gotta go do the two

 

Magnesium could do that. What is your magnesium?

As a young reefer I didn't keep track of my magnesium levels and my frogspawns looked exactly like that.. Dripping kalk often causes magnesium levels to drop, too.

Algae fix is not reef safe! It is a biocide bio=life cide=killer. It can kill inverts, corals, and your beneficial bacteria.

A case of algae does not justify nuclear warfare.

 

50 to 60% water change? look closely at the corals center and look for brown paste if there clean and healthy they will recover from what ever has shocked them to much water flow look for that also they don't like strong water flow, let your tank recover from the water change, reef cystals salt has added chemicals thats why i don't use it, i prefer adding them myself to ensure theres no overdose of any one chemical that my tank may not be using as much as the salt adds for example strontium to much can kill so be careful with that type of salt that is what i think your problem is .