Question for savvy acro keepers! (orange passion trouble)

[2Wheelsonly]

I have an orange passion frag thats been kinda slow to grow; much slower than iv'e experienced with other SPS.

One of the smaller stalks is dead (turned white) there are still some polyps coming out but the stalk itself is dead. The rest of the frag looks great with great PE. There is no death at the base that resembles an STN event nor are any tips brown.

My alk was kinda low for the past few weeks as I battled carx issues (6.5 alk). It's back to 7.5 (slowly over few days). Other than that, nothing major and no other issues in my tank with my other SPS frags/colonies.

Is it safe to assume this orange passion will most likely recover? I have never seen an actual stalk die off...whenever I lost an acro it was either from the base up or via burnt tips.

EDIT** Added PIC (PE not so good because I blew at it with a turkey baster to see if any pests flew off which did not so it's a little upset right now). Red arrows point to one of the dead stalks...

 

[Will Wohlers]

I would say it's likely bleached from stress or some other factor but there is still tissue covering it just hard to tell because it's white. As long as algae doesn't grow on it then it is still likely alive and will recover assuming light and water parameters are in optimal range. Just keep an eye on where the bleached tissue ends and the good tissue begins to make sure it's isolated to that branch and not just creeping into the colony. Orange passion is pretty hardy so I think it'll be fine. Possibly turn the frag with the bleached stalk facing away from the light to kinda shade it because you don't want to fry it at this point.
Good luck keep us posted
Will

 

[2Wheelsonly]

There was some slight growth around the upper rim so i'm sure that portion is dead...hopefully there is nothing else wrong with it! I'd hate to lose this frag