What happens to corals when they die? Do the bleach? I assume it's
different for hard or soft corals?

The coral in question would be a zooanthid.

I was at an LFS today for the first time. Although they had a fair
selection, their equipment was very under sized. And their prices seemed
very high to me.

The wanted $52 for ALL assorted corals. I had my eye on this zooanthid with
a bright orange center. But the rock they were on would fit in your hand,
the colony of zoos were a little bigger than a quarter with the individauls
being a little larger then the diamer of the cap of a pen. Not to mention
half of them were closed and almost white and that this rock had green
bubble algae on it. I wanted to rescue the poor thing but for $52, they can
stick it where the sun dont shine. I offered $20 but the lady said only the
owner could change the pricing and he wont be in til Friday.

Anyway, will introducing half dead coral cause an ammonia spike?
I was counting on the deadones to just bleach out and be done. Is this
correct?
I am sure the cause of death is inadequate light and poor water quality. I
bet the nitrates were really high. The water had a brown tinge to it.

What do you think?

~Mort