Another Sun Coral issue??

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Being that when my wife says " Oh that is a pretty one"........ I long ago learned that if she said that........ I most of the time took that Coral home for her. There are exceptions No you can't have a Spiny Oyster, no you can't have another Elegance and so one......
Well her most recent addition is a Sun Coral......... I had never added one knowing the dismal long term issues. with them...........
So the little guy is tucked into a small cave and eating well had has been added to the night feeders list in the tank........But in reading I see that it should be in a very high flow area, with this one is not in..........
So who has keep one healthy for the "Long Term" . Years not a few months as some think of as long term. Also any hints or tricks with this non photo fellow...... Feedings I do have a good understanding of, but I guess my big concern would be the issue of flow, or any others I am not thinking of....................
I have finally reached the point of not losing a coral of fish in a very long time and I just do not want to lose this guy out of ignorance.

 

[nonphotosynt]

Mmm, what is wrong with Spiny Oyster?
I have an oyster, that was sold as jewel box oyster or something like that. What should I watch for?
Sun coral: it may be not a long term, but I have colony for 2.5 yrs, it grew from this to this:

Was fragged, frags survived. It spawns regularly, if conditions are normal, larvae settles, new colonies grow:

They were moved, glued, kept in different conditions.
I have also other sun corals and their relatives, but these are definitely short term.
Am I qualified?

IMHE, the critical are:
1. More or less regular feeding. Once a week is too little, it could be used only for 1-2 months, then - more intense feeding to restore health. Daily feedings in small doses were the best, giving better coral appearance and most intense growth. Sun colony on the photos above was fed twice a week.
2. Feeding the meaty food, in variety, not only cyclop eeze or phytoplankton. Sorry for assumption, but I read about such cases too. Depending on the size of polyps, frozen mysis shrimp, larger plankton, some addition of brine shrimp or Marine Cuisine or Ocean Nutrition VHP formula, but you can use chopped or grated frozen the raw grocery seafood, without salt and preservatives. Whole organisms affect water quality less, than chopped shrimp or fish. Efficient skimmer helps a lot.
3. Watching for ammonia spike within 8 hrs after feeding, first week or two, until feeding becomes a standard routine. Neutralize it in case of emergency, tap water conditioners, like Prime or Erase Cl, will work.
Watching for rate of growth for nitrates and phosphates, water changes and phosphate remover, when necessary.
Not critical, but worth to pay attention to:
1. If feed too much, polyps will regurgitate in the middle of the night, food will decompose, leading to water fouling and, worst case scenario, unnoticed ammonia spike, leading to the tissue die-off. This is why more frequent feeding in smaller doses is preferable.
Same will be with too big chunks of food.
2. You will find experimentally, how much food your colony will need. Start with rough estimate 1 mysis per mouth. Closed colony should have plump look, without paper thin skin and sharp edges of polyps. Just like with humans.
Whole food and variety of food is preferable.
3. In rare cases coral may need removing uneaten food from between the polyps, where it will decompose, leading to the loss of the colony tissue. Consider it analog of teeth flossing.
4. Removing uneaten food from the bottom or LR cavities will help with water quality. Worst case scenario is when coral in placed on Fiji lace-looking rock, and rotting food is accumulating, where even small hermits can't reach it, in amounts, too big for them to handle.
5. Small colony requires less food and because of this affects water quality less, than the big one.
Flow could be strong enough to move extended tentacles, but it shouldn't move the whole soft part of the polyp aside, bending it.
Not all polyps should be fed each time, but if you can, give them in turns possibility to eat.
Now, if I may: how your coral looks, when it is closed?
I can see, that it has very high polyps' skeletons, what is usual only for pure yellow sun coral.
Is it branching or all polyps are growing from the common base?
Are polyps diameter small, comparing to the most common sun corals, that you see in LFS?
If thin, branching - you may have not a Tubastrea, but its relative, some other member of Dendrophyllidae.
I, for example, have this:

that could be Cladopsammia gracilis, but identification is always an issue with sun corals, except the black ones.
Care is the same as for any other sun coral, maybe even less. I particularly like it.
HTH

 

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Thanks a lot for taking all that typing time!! And yes I learned a couple things from it.. I was never sure if each mouth needed to be fed. And secondly I will now be moving it to a higher flow area too. The cave location has little flow threw it, only across the front.
I am seeing that the front mouths seem to open better, the back ones are more protected from the flow by the little cave it in in. I was not sure if that was a flow or a feeding issue. it may be both.
I have been tending to feed the easier mouths to reach more often than the others. ....... And if each mouth does need feedings it's currant location will make that difficult.
Here are close ups of a head and the daytime stalks for a better ID ....... Also it does seem to have longer skinnier branches that some I have seen. I thought that was just poor health... It seems to have grown a couple tiny new heads since I got it about a week back too.
So I guess from was I am learning, the little guy will be moving out of the little cave....... Thanks again........... Warren

 

[nonphotosynt]

Mine (in worse condition) recovered with a good feeding.
I would talk less, if you narrowed question

Tried to help, you know
Here the similar coral is shown as Dendrophyllia gracilis, ********** - as Cladopsammia gracilis.
Unfortunately, nobody posted links to the key identification criteria, web search gave nothing particular too, so all this is hear-say information.

 

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Thanks a lot, from looking it looks to be a Cladopsammia gracilis.........