Did the favia survive? Hard to tell from the info provided if theres any treatment or course correction for this colony. Usually when the polyps are all pulled back off the skeleton like in the pictures it is not a good sign. My shot in the dark would be flow and maybe lighting issues. But really without more info or water parameters, that’s a blind guess.
Don’t be discouraged. At $20 I think it was probably marked down for a reason. I stopped buying discounted corals a long time ago because I came to the conclusion that the pests, diseases and other issues associated with them far outweighed the discount. I’d rather spend $100+ on a coral that’s healthy and thriving and will live for years rather than $20 on something that will cause me endless headache, need to be babied with perfect care and still likely die in a month or less. Of course you’ll want to make sure your water parameters are good before going in on costlier corals.
To each their own, just my personal experiences mentioned. Happy reefing!
