Green Montipora Cap Question

[ags]

A couple weeks ago I decided to reaquascape my tank. I must have had a low flow area somewhere in the rock work which unleashed some lethal bacteria buildup because within hours my green montipora cap, orange montipora digitata, orange montipora cap and huge branching hydnophora died. The tissue literally dripped off the skeleton.
Anyway, my green monti cap seemed to survive, barely. The very tip of the coral had some viable flesh so I left it in the tank. Now it is making a strong come back and has regained its emerald coloring and polyp extension.
In its hey day the coral stood about 4 inches tall and maybe 1.5 to 2 inches wide. Now the viable part of the coral measures 1.5 by 1.5 to 2 inches. The rest of the skeleton, from the base up, is covered in algae.
Will the live tissue spread to the algae covered skeleton or would the coral be better served by cutting most of the dead skeleton from the base and reattaching it to the rock?

 

[golfish]

Originally Posted by Ags
Will the live tissue spread to the algae covered skeleton or would the coral be better served by cutting most of the dead skeleton from the base and reattaching it to the rock?

IME, you'd be better off cutting off ALL the dead area and attaching that to the rock.

 

[yosemite sam]

The coral will probably grow over the old skeleton, but with that much exposed, it will take a little while. If it were me, I'd frag off the end, and remount it.

 

[ags]

Looking more closely there seem to be some live tissue just beneath the healthy tissue. However, it is devoid of any color or polyp extension. Assuming it will spread to the dead skeleton am I doing the coral more harm than good by letting it be? My thought process is that it made a comeback when left alone and fragging off the dead skeleton might stress it out and take a turn for the worse.
Thanks for the help.

 

[yosemite sam]

If it's growing back out, it should be just fine to frag it.