This is Hector, my anemone.
I rescued him out of a lab after we discovered he'd been forgotten after the semester ended. His story starts out in the dirty bay waters of Florida where he was collected from. He then found his way into this lab to be stared at by students. As far as we are aware, he was merely decoration and was not used in experiments. When the semester ended, the students (and care-takers) left, the lights were shut off and the tank was forgotten about. He was then left alone for about 6 months until I stumbled upon the tank. About half of the water had evaporated, there was no water flow, the salinity was something insane like 52ppt, he hadn't been fed, and he hadn't seen light because there were no windows and that classroom hadn't been used since the semester he was collected.
Somehow, he was as happy as a clam. Fully open and extended, nice and plump, he looked great! After a few inquiries, I got permission to take him home to my tank. He's been a great addition and I'm hoping to one day have some clowns to host him. I've had him well over a year now and he seems to only be deteriorating in health. He was initially open often and remained plump but has in the last 6 months or so been retracted 24/7 (with about 2-3 tentacles sticking out the top) and getting smaller in size. The only time he plumps back up and extends his tentacles is when I clean my tank and dirty up all the water! He seems to like messy water and I just don't know what to make of this. I target feed him roughly every 2-3 weeks but I see him catch particulates during my nightly fish feeding time anyway. He's not starving. The water conditions seem fine to me. None of my fish or corals are showing signs of.... too clean water?
I just don't know what to do with him. He seems so unhappy. Anyone got ideas?