New Print and eBook on Amazon:   Anemone Success Doing what it takes to keep Anemones healthy long-term by Robert (Bob) Fenner

question regarding bubble tip anemone         7/28/16 Hello, <Maria> I am writing in order to see if I could get some guidance/help regarding mi bubble tip anemone. I currently have a Boyu TL550, 130 lt, saltwater aquarium. I placed my E. quadricolor 3.5 months ago, and for the first 2 months she did great (I am attaching a picture from when she looked healthy). Since 3-4 weeks ago, the anemone has progressively lost her ''bubbliness'', and the tentacles have ''shriveled'' and look flaccid and ''thin''. The colour has also changed; from a bright orange, to a darker orange-brown and some sectors even look greenish. 1-2 weeks ago the anemone decided to close (similar as when lights are off), and has decided to stay like this for days. Today, she opened, but after 2 days of being closed. I have two Ocellaris clownfish, the female resided in the anemone, the male resided in an Euphyllia. <Aye ya... here's some trouble> Now they have both moved to the Euphyllia, however the female goes back to the anemone any time she exposes her tentacles. I have never fed the anemone, except for 2 weeks ago (she was already looking shady) with a mix of brine shrimp and saltwater and squirted it; there was no change. <Needs to be fed two, three times a week> I have checked my parameters, temp is 24-25 C, pH 7.9-8.1, density 1.021-1.023 <S/b 1.025-6> (they are pretty steady). I recently got more parameters, and the only parameter that was not right was nitrate (20 ppm). Nitrite, ammonia, phosphate, calcium, dKH were ok. <? Meaningless w/o actual data, numbers> The rest of the aquarium looks fine (other residents are Rhodactis, Kenya tree, Parazoanthus gracilis, 2 Ocellaris, Sixline wrasse yellow watchman  goby, Salarias fasciatus, 3 hermit crabs, 3 snails, 1 Lysmata amboinensis). If you could guide me in this issue I would be most appreciative. <Well; as stated above; the Euphyllia is winning here, the Entacmaea losing (allopathically); this animal is starved, and the environment? Did you review BTA Health on WWM? All this is gone over and over... As are suggestions for improving the situation... moving the Caryophylliid or Actinarian (they need to be in sep. systems); foods/feeding... and improving the animal's world. Bob Fenner> Thank you very much!

Anemone Bleaching FAQs  8/31/08 Greetings from NZ, oh wise ones. <Hello from Iowa! I rather like this 'wise one' bit...maybe I'll mandate it> I picked up an anemone (Heteractis sebae/ malu..? The one with cream-ish bubble and balloon shaped tentacles, with supposedly luminous blue/ purple tips) a couple of months ago, in what was admittedly a run down condition. <Tough to find any other way...unfortunate> It was in a dim tank with T5 lighting and dozens of Aiptasia for company. Completely white, it apparently had always been that way, and had been in the same spot for a year or more. We encouraged it to come off the substrate and rock on which it was perched by running a power head stream over its foot from a distance. It settled into the spot where I put it in my reef tank, specs below: 200-litre display with 60 litre sump and AquaC Remora skimmer, rated for 1300 litres. System circulation/ turnover ~3500 litres per hour, and internal turnover approx 5000 litres per hour. Nitrites/ ammonia ~0, nitrates around 20-40 ppm, <Really too high for optimal health in this anemone> phosphate negligible through regular filtration in sump. (No refugium). Regular dosing of reef supplement with all soft and hard corals in prime condition, including a fine head of Porites and Christmas trees + a couple of tridacnid clams. Lighting 150 W metal halide + 2 actinic tubes. Back to the anemone, it is also in fine physical condition, fed on a bit of shrimp/ mussel every couple of days, extends tentacles on cue etc, responds to stimuli well etc. <Good.> The colour remains pretty much snowy white/ cream. There is some brown speckling starting to appear on about 10% of the tentacles, and I am guessing this will undergo a population explosion of sorts once the zooxanthellae hit a 'critical mass'. <Very much so. When conditions, health reach proper status...process speeds up.> The oral disc is a pale pink, and the column is a rich silky cream. The anemone itself seems quite happy, even though it is being steadfastly ignored by my Perc clown ( I will be introducing a clarkii or similar to get results on the hosting front). <Hosting is hit-and-miss, no matter the species. I'd just stick with the percula, and wait. Sometimes they host after months, or years, of ignorant behavior> My gripe is with the colour. I anticipated the tentacles would regain their blue/ purple tips, and sometimes a faint dark tip is visible - when the tentacles are not fully inflated. <These may well come back with time. These pigments are expensive to produce, and I would not expect them to return until well after this anemone has repopulated its algal symbionts. Also keep in mind there are variations in colouring, and not all specimens will be as vibrant- or the same colours- as others.> Would you have any advice on ways I can influence the coloration or do you reckon it is likely to remain this speckled look. Would a new companion to host be beneficial in any way? <Continue feeding good marine-origin meaty foods. I'm not sure about the availability of products down under, but making a frozen food from a Cyclops-eeze type product and a little plain gelatin to be thawed in small pieces for the anemone may help provide HUFAs and colouring compounds...also do try soaking the foods in a vitamin supplement like Selcon. Also, a hosted fish would not aid in this process-may hurt, as there is some stress to the anemone and occasional damage from a hosted fish...not a perfectly balanced symbiosis.> I searched the sheer wealth of info on your site, but could not find anything specific to this, I apologise for the extra long-winded query! <No trouble at all! See if you can't get the nitrate down in your tank, and keep taking good care of that anemone, and with time I think you'll be happy with the results.> Regards Mani <Best wishes. Benjamin>
Re: Anemone Bleaching - 8/31/08 9/24/08 Hi Just re the anemone you had advised me on a short while ago, I would like to let you know it is now a speckled brown/ tan color over most of the tentacles, and similar colored lines radiating out from the oral disc. Any thoughts on when the blue/ purple tips I am expecting should show? It seems in overall good health, and appears to be a very fussy eater - only fully thawed shrimp meat is accepted, and it spits out clams, mussels, squid etc. <Good. Carry on with good care and it will color up> I am planning to shift it to a larger, newer set up, is that advisable, or should I just let it stay in a more mature environment? <I would keep it in a mature environment. Let the larger set up mature, and let this guy get totally healthy before stressing him with a move.> Thank you for your help. Best regards Mani <No problem! The same to you, Benjamin>

Anemone Troubles 7/28/05 Hi guys <Hey, Mike G with you this evening.> I have taken command of my little brothers Jewel Rio 180 marine set up whilst he travels for a year and although he gave me step by step instructions I need your help please <And I'm glad to give it.> I have a white carpet anemone <"White" and "Anemone" really don't belong in the same sentence. Bleaching comes immediately to mind.> which he has had from day one (3 ? years) I have been looking after this tank for nearly three weeks now and she is gorgeous and I hand feed her mussels which she enjoys. <If it is, indeed, bleached, the mussels may very well be the only thing allowing her to continue living.> Yesterday I carried out my first water change of approximately 20% after finding that my readings were as follows PH - 7.8 <A bit low. Aim for 8.2, 8.4> ammonia - 0.25ppm <A bit high. Aim for no more than 0> NO2 - 0.25ppm <See above. Should be 0> but the big one was NO3 - 160ppm which was off the scale. <Very high, though you've got that figured out.> I got told 20% 2 weekly is the norm is this correct (question 1)? <Depends on the aquarist. Everyone does things differently, though 20% every two weeks sounds good to me.> Although all fish and anemones appeared fine in the tank before the water change. <Alright.> So I got my self some pre salted RO water from my local shop <Same brand of salt as your brother used in his tank? Same salinity?> set it up to an air stone for 24 hours and heated it up to the tank temperature I then begin the change of 20% of the water which appeared to go well for my first time. <Good to hear.> After it was done I then took the readings again and to my shock nothing had really changed the PH was still low 7.8 and my NO3 was still way over 160ppm <If it was off the charts before, there's no telling how high it was. It could have been at 500, and you reduced it to 161, in which case you'd still get the same reading.> How can I get these down (question 2)? <Do what you've been doing. Water changes, lighter feedings...> Secondly I bought some proper ph 8.2 and added just 2 scoops directly to my 180 litre tank to try and get the ph level up to what all sites tell me it should be. <"Proper pH" and other such pH buffers are, in my experience, nothing but problematic. When they "wear off," your water will go back to 7.8, and the jump up then back down will stress your inhabitants unnecessarily. Using Kalkwasser or other such additives commonly administered to reef aquaria can prove invaluable in situations such as these.> After I had done this my carpet shriveled up into a tiny ball as if to say no I was fine as I was, albeit now 2 hours after my heart stopped beating thinking that I may have killed my cutest little new found friend she appears again to be opening up very slightly. <Anemones tend to do a water change within their column from time to time, and will deflate completely periodically or when under stress. Unless it stays like this for a prolonged period of time, I'd not worry myself if I were you.> Is this normal during a water change that she will get the hump with me (question 3)? <See above.> As if I loose her it's the hose pipe and car exhaust fumes for me as I love feeding her? <I don't quite understand what you're saying here, though if it is white, I'd say feeding would be a good thing.> My final question is I also bought another anemone <With brother's consent?> the other weekend which is a brown anemone with brown tentacles with green ends that appear to have holes in them <Hard to guess the species.> as I could not resist her for my 2 clowns and on the say so of my local aquatic shop. On getting her home we set her up and put her in the corner of the tank, the next morning my dad screamed she is next to the carpet <When newly introduced, uncomfortable, or stressed, anemones will roam around the tank looking for a more suitable location.> so I dived in and moved her and since then she will not really take to anywhere and looks like she does not want to take refuge on the glass, sand or rock and will not really show her mouth for feeding and looks like her feet are damaged. <They are quite strong. Perhaps you tore the foot when you moved it?> So do you think she is in big trouble <A tear in the foot is usually a problem.> and how can I encourage her to settle (question 4)? <Provide it with a place it likes, and it'll take to it.> I thank you for your time and look forward to your answers at this difficult time <Not a problem. Good luck with your new anemone!> Gary from London <Mike G>

Sick Anemone? BTA 10/17/03 Hi, I have a very small (3in across at most) bubble tip anemone.  I've had it for about 1 month now (tank has been established for about 6 months). <FWIW... its kind of a young tank to have purchased an anemone for. Little natural plankton available no doubt unless you also have a large refugium inline. I also hope you have resisted a mix with other stinging anemones or corals. It will be your best bet for success with keeping any motile anemone. Read more in the WWM archives about mixing cnidarians> Basically, when I first got it, it seemed fine and healthy and (I think) colored up a bit.  I originally fed it every day with some formula one, about an eight of a cube (fighting the cleaner shrimp off was quite the chore!).  And he seemed to be doing fine.   <agreed... a good habit here> Pictures of it, more or less chronologically are found here http://www-personal.umich.edu/~skotzaba/anemone.htm  I did some more reading, and as always, I came across a lot of opinions on how often anemones should be fed.   <does vary by species (and tank-- depending on incidental feeding opportunities with heavy fish populations)> The general consensus was that you should feed them, at most, twice a week--any more might harm them.    <I disagree... I would suggest 3-5 times weekly for most at minimum. The "harm" in feeding anemones is with chunks of food that are too large... not fine matter "too often"> Well, I did that, which  seems to be when the decline started.  It would spend a great deal of its time contorted and releasing mucus.  It did this for a while and then its mouth began to gape and it would spend a while looking as if he would puke out his internals (white squiggly intestinal things, which I think are the mesenterial filaments).   <correct... and commonly occurs with feeding large chunks of food. Yikes> I thought the outlook was grim, but I didn't have the heart to toss him out yet.  He spend a while continuing on that course, until one day he decided to move under a rock, then within a day he moved  back out and attached his foot at the base of the rock, near the bottom of the tank; so he is now horizontally oriented to the substrate.  He still looked horrid.  I took a mucus sample and looked at it under a microscope.  Obviously I'm no scientist, so what I saw didn't reveal much.  A lot of dark brown, various thin worms jerking about and one of what looked like those small calcareous tube worms one gets all over the glass.  I posted on a few boards asking for help.  Basically, one individual, who seemed to know what he was talking about, said that the anemone is exhibiting signs of malnutrition and that an anemone should be fed as often as it will eat.  So I embarked on the task of feeding it.  It, of course, didn't really respond to food like the majano anemones in the sump do (reaching for an grabbing, although his tentacles are so stubby, he never really reached in the first place).  I have to gently place the piece near its mouth.  In its glory days it would then close up and eat it.  Now it takes about 20 minutes before it coordinates itself enough to eat.  Its much like spoon-feeding a crippled patient.  Anyhow, the good news is that he started looking better, at least comparatively, so I've continued daily feedings and I'm hoping he might improve.  Is there any advice you can offer, based on what I've told you?   <I believe you are truly o the right track... feeding several times weekly if not daily will be optimal. Nothing larger than fine plankton/mysids (1/4" or smaller)> Tank is a 50 gallon with a 20gal sump.  pH: 8.3 Am:0 Ni:0 Na:2ppm Salin: 1.024 Alk:3 Ca:400 Regardless, thank you for taking the time to read my long story. <best of luck! Anthony>

- Anemone Checks Out -  Hello,  I need some help with the picture that I attached. I added this green anemone about 2 weeks ago and all has been well up to about 4-5 hours ago. <Looks perhaps to be a carpet anemone to me... perhaps.> I noticed that the mouth area started to grow considerably and the tentacles have really shrunk. My Maroon clown has been taking good care of it; feeding, cleaning and protecting. <Hmm... you shouldn't be relying on the clown to do the feeding - they don't actually do this in the wild and the feeding behaviour is not really that at all - the fish takes the food to someplace where it thinks the food is safe and then typically drops it, but suffice to say, you can't rely on the fish to care for the anemone, you need to get involved in the feeding yourself.> I also noticed an area about 1" long that seemed to be decaying on the front center of the picture. Is there anything that I can do to help this guy out.  My water temp is 78.5-79 constant, salinity is 1.022, pH is 8.2, ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0, nitrate is 5-10 on average. The tank is 180 gallons with a 30 gallon sump, 4" DSB and Prizm pro skimmer. The light period is 11 hours by 4 72" VHO 160 watt bulbs that consists of 2 actinics, 1 daylight and 1 50/50 bulb. <Quite likely there is not enough light intensity to satisfy the needs of this animal. With a tank this deep, metal halide is what's really required. Please read this article: >  Thanks for any help, keep up the excellent site.  <Cheers, J -- > 
- Anemone Checks Out, Follow-up -  Thanks for responding, <My pleasure.> the anemone ended up dying and disintegrating. <Sorry to hear that.> I know it was eating because I would watch it move food from it's tentacles to it's mouth and eject feces which the clown would pick up and move someplace else. I forgot to mention that I was adding Iodine, calcium and Iron to the tank per the bottle instructions. <I would only add these as test kits indicate you should - instructions on the bottle are too general.> I wonder if it's the lights as you mentioned? <I think it is.> I thought that 3.5 watts per gallon would be good. <General rules of thumb like this are rarely useful. Your tank is too deep for this much light to be useful to an animal that once lived under sun light.> The tank is very bright, almost too bright during the day cycle. <Perhaps by your standards, but I can assure you... spend some time in the tropics and you will see... your tank is not bright enough.> I am using a Solar controller to control the light cycle. The controller ramps up and down the lights and has occasional storms. Full noon which is 100% light output is 5 hours in duration and the morning and afternoon periods vary based on the program. Should I force the noon cycle to run longer? <Would be helpful, but I still think that part of the problem is the penetration of light energy to the bottom of the tank. Metal halides would do a great deal to remedy this.> I also noticed that the anemone never really latched onto the sand or rocks because the clown would push it around through regular motion. Could've this been a sign? <Sure... many anemones are poorly harvested and then handled after the fact. Any damage to the pedal foot of the animal will almost guarantee its demise.>  Thanks for reading my rambling, maybe something will act as a clue to this demise. I am leery about buying another anemone until I can figure this out. <I'm leery about people keeping these at all... too many die in aquaria.> My clown is definitely upset about the death and I want to get another home for him soon. <Your clown will do just fine without an anemone in captivity.  Cheers, J -- > 
- Anemone Checks Out, Reader Input - >Thanks for responding, <My pleasure.> the anemone ended up dying and disintegrating. <Sorry to >hear that.> I know it was eating because I would watch it move food from it's tentacles to >its mouth and eject feces which the clown would pick up and move someplace else. I noticed a post (partly included above) about an anemone demise and wanted to add a comment about feeding them: I'm curious to learn more about what the aquarist described as feces above. I keep an H. crispa and have kept BTAs. I rarely see much in the way of feces. Thirteen years ago, I remember seeing something that I took to be feces from an anemone that eventually died. Turns out I was feeding the anemone chunks of food that were too large and it would spit out a slimy, barely digested chunk of food within 24 hours. That is, what an aquarist mistakes for anemone feces may be regurgitated, barely digested oversized food. Specifically, the anemone appears to be eating, is trying to eat, but isn't getting nutrition. For most anemones, a varied diet of small food seems to work well. Varying chopped clam, shrimp and scallops (all raw) works well as does additions of Mysis and even thawed bits of Formula I and II.  Marc <Couldn't agree more. Thanks for the comments, will add to the rest and hopefully will be read by those looking for information. Cheers, J -- >

Anemone hello, I emailed you yesterday about my anemone. thank you so much for the information. I think it is great that you take the time to respond to all of these aquarist questions.  <You're welcome> I have spent a lot of time at the fish store asking questions about my anemone. I usual get the same answer to the same questions! they tell me only to feed my anemone twice a month??? is this right.  <IF you had one of the species that mainly subsists on photosynthesis... IF your system had "detritus" (some species "eat" a bunch of fish wastes... really, in the wild) in your system and/or IF you had lots of live rock, a refugium (lighted sump with live rock, perhaps mud, macro-algae) producing plenty of small foodstuffs, IF... otherwise, I would gauge this animal's health/appetite by its behavior... if it seems susceptible to feeding (open, eagerly attaching particles to its tentacles...) I would certainly offer it more food directly... at least once a week, likely twice... Your observations/interactions with the specimen are of more value than any/all's opinions> I have had it for two and one half of a month. it seems to like it where there is not as much flow or where the flow ends at the wall. no matter what I am pretty sure it wants to spend its life there. however I am worried that its life is coming to an end. the base is losing most of its color and is swollen like.  <The swellings may be natural (verrucae)... the color change may be due to diet, lack of intense full spectrum light, some aspect of water quality... Do read over the WWM site for the links to the Breeder's Registry and peruse the wealth of information there on captive anemone husbandry...> the tentacles shrink and expand but never like before. the base used to expand long and short. now it is puffy and odd shaped. is there something I should do. my water test comes out good. nitrate is about 30 everything else is good. there are no live rock in the tank.  <I would definitely add some live rock... many, many benefits here> just sand right now. I have a three clowns in the tank. one of them always stays with the anemone. since I have noticed these problems the past days the clown has been spending less time there. I feed it frozen cubes that I defrost. the cubes come from a variety pack. how often should I give these to it?  <The clown? Mix this diet with some flake, pelleted, fresh foods and feed small amounts 2,3 times per day> it has never once eaten the food either. lastly I have a SeaClone skimmer that collects nothing. not even water. is this because I have no organic compounds? thank you for you time. james <More likely the skimmer is inadequate. Please read over the skimmer, live rock et al. sections on the site: www.wetwebmedia.com Bob Fenner>

Long Tentacle Anemone Assistance My name is Mac Lewis, and just for the record I'm female *s*. <Hi, there...Mac. My name is Anthony and just for the record, I'm a Sagittarius (insert swanky disco music here). But seriously... beyond the wise cracks, my pleasure to be in your service> I've been out of the hobby for a couple of years but have recently returned and I've got a question about the strange behavior of a long tentacled anemone. <welcome back... I shall do my best> The tank he is in is a 75 gallon.  It has actinic lights, triton lights and sun spectrum lights on it.  I'm running a Magnum 330 with a quicksand filter on it, and a Fluval that is of similar size.  I plan on adding a protein skimmer in the near future <as soon as possible...critical, in my opinion for most> and a wet dry eventually. <may not be necessary if your fish load is light and you invest in enough live rock (a better filter choice for small/medium fish)> My base is a mixture of sand, and crushed shell. <hmmm... how thick? Course is a detritus trap...long-term problems if greater than 1/2 inch depth> I've had this long tentacled a couple of weeks.  When I bought it at the pet store it was lovely and thriving nicely.  I brought it home and brought the two Tomato clowns that had claimed it as well.  They all settled in nicely. The long tentacled kept his size well etc.  The pet store had tried to feed him a dead damsel fish <horrible idea...way too large food. Could even cause harm (rare)> but he rejected it when he got to my tank. <not surprised> The next day, after putting him in my tank I was amazed to see, 6 domino damsels and the two clowns playing in this anemone.  It was packed with fish. And the two clowns were playing in and out of his mouth. <fantastic...the beauty of the sea! How fortunate you are.> In recent days, while the base color remains Orange, he appears to have shrunken down.  At the top of the orange I'm seeing white which I don't recall seeing before.  His tentacles appear plump and okay, not withering. What worries me is that his mouth appears to be gaping open. <indeed often a bad sign> Upon testing the water it appears to be in great shape. <what is your pH, temperature, alkalinity and nitrate specifically?> The damsels are not in the anemone anymore, only the tomato clowns.  He moved in adjustment to a power head which made a current of water that I added because I was concerned with top water circulation and exchange. I was concerned about what he was eating and last night hand fed him a chunk of brine which he appears to have digested okay but there is just something not right about him. <fine but never feed anything larger than brine, and stop that food altogether. it is nutritively barren. Try fine zooplankton or Mysis shrimp> He feels sticking to the touch but he just appears to be drooping.  He has attached back to another spot so perhaps I'm worrying over nothing but I was told that a gaping mouth is a sign he's in decline and I'm going to lose him. <not necessarily> Could you tell me whether he's okay? What you think I might be doing wrong? How I could assist him? <please report back with your water chemistry readings...do a water change (always when in doubt do a proper/gentle water change). Beyond that... your lights will not keep this animal alive in the long run. Although the spectral mix you have is good... standard output fluorescents are fairly useless beyond eight inches of water depth for intensely symbiotic animals like anemones and coral. unless your anemone is right at the surface of the water, it is suffering from a net daily carbon deficit (not enough photosynthetic activity to produce enough carbon for basic survival). Feeding fine (easy to digest) nutritious foods will help, but the animal needs more light intensity. Consider a shallower tank or a brighter set of lights. A pair of VHO's (two 110 watt each) would do the trick or a comparable power compact light outfit. This hardware is a bit dear, so be sure you want to commit to the anemone or find a new home if necessary. Best regards, Anthony>
Anemone Follow-up Thanks for your replying so quickly Anthony *s*.  let me try to clarify and give you some more details so maybe you can help. <Hi, Mac...quite welcome and ready for round two. Anthony> The tank he is in is a 75 gallon.  It has actinic lights, triton lights and sun spectrum lights on it.  I'm running a Magnum 330 with a quicksand filter on it, and a Fluval that is of similar size.  I plan on adding a protein skimmer in the near future  <as soon as possible...critical, in my opinion for most> The plan is to get the Protein skimmer this weekend <<be sure to focus on fine tuning it to produce a cup of product daily...tedious at first, but low maintenance after the initial learning curve. Seek further advice if you do not get a cup a day... there is no such thing as a "clean" fish tank that cannot yield that much skimmate>> and a wet dry eventually. <may not be necessary if your fish load is light and you invest in enough live rock (a better filter choice for small/medium fish)> I do plan to add some live rock and in the meantime added some live aragonite last night. <<excellent. Live rock and sand are very good investments in your tank's health>> My base is a mixture of sand, and crushed shell. <hmmm... how thick? Course is a detritus trap...long-term problems if greater than 1/2 inch depth> Nooooooo its only about 1/2 inch. <<too cool...you are quite on track>> I've had this long tentacled a couple of weeks.  When I bought it at the pet store it was lovely and thriving nicely.  I brought it home and brought the two Tomato clowns that had claimed it as well.  They all settled in nicely. The long tentacled kept his size well etc.  The pet store had tried to feed him a dead damsel fish <horrible idea...way too large food. Could even cause harm (rare)> but he rejected it when he got to my tank. <not surprised>  The next day, after putting him in my tank I was amazed to see, 6 domino damsels and the two clowns playing in this anemone.  It was packed with fish. And the two clowns were playing in and out of his mouth. <fantastic...the beauty of the sea! How fortunate you are.> Yes I know and I'm determined to keep this guy happy. In recent days, while the base color remains Orange, he appears to have shrunken down.  At the top of the orange I?m seeing white, which I don't recall seeing before.  His tentacles appear plump and okay, not withering. What worries me is that his mouth appears to be gaping open. Although the Clowns really keep staying in his mouth, and his mouth is very large.  He does still have all of his Zooplankton color. <indeed often a bad sign> Upon testing the water it appears to be in great shape. <what is your pH, temperature, alkalinity and nitrate specifically?> I don't have the specifics here with me at work but the ph I remember was 8.1 the temperature is 78 I didn't test for Alkalinity and the nitrates were not showing on the test kit.  Ammonia was not showing in the test kit either. <<pH is definitely too low and perhaps a part of the problem. Ph is highest during the day and if 8.1 is the best we can do, then there is a problem. 8.3 (night-time0 to 8.6 (daytime) is a well buffered tank. Average seawater is 8.45. You'll want to discover alkalinity to interpret why your pH is low>> The damsels are not in the anemone anymore, only the tomato clowns. He moved in adjustment to a power head which made a current of water that I added because I was concerned with top water circulation and exchange. I was concerned about what he was eating and last night hand fed him a chunk of brine which he appears to have digested okay but there is just something not right about him. <fine but never feed anything larger than brine, and stop that food altogether? it is nutritively barren. Try fine zooplankton or Mysis shrimp> Okay ordered some Zooplankton today, good foods are really in short supply around here. He feels sticking to the touch but he just appears to be drooping.  He has attached back to another spot so perhaps I?m worrying over nothing but I was told that a gapping mouth is a sign he's in decline and I?m going to loose him. <not necessarily> I did the water change last night( 15% ) and added the live aragonite.  When I did the changed he flipped over but quickly righted himself.  No signs of disintegration and his color still looks good.  His mouth is not gapping nearly as big today and I'm looking into the halogen lights.  And you are right they are definitely dear. <<a shame, but a necessary evil>> Could you tell me whether he's okay? What you think I might be doing wrong? How I could assist him? <please report back with your water chemistry readings...do a water change (always when in doubt do a proper/gentle water change). Beyond that... your lights will not keep this animal alive in the long run. Although the spectral mix you have is good... standard output fluorescents are fairly useless beyond eight inches of water depth for intensely symbiotic animals like anemones and coral. unless your anemone is right at the surface of the water, it is suffering from a net daily carbon deficit (not enough photosynthetic activity to produce enough carbon for basic survival).> Until I get the lights I could find ways to raise him, with rocks or even a shelf if necessary. <<very good in the meantime>> <Feeding fine (easy to digest) nutritious foods will help, but the animal needs more light intensity. Consider a shallower tank or a brighter set of lights. A pair of VHO's (two 110 watt each) would do the trick or a comparable power compact light outfit. This hardware is a bit dear, so be sure you want to commit to the anemone or find a new home if necessary. Best regards, Anthony> Thanks so much for your help again, Mac Lewis <you are very welcome... best of luck to you, Anthony>>