Anyone ever split a hammerhead coral?

[jstewart0]

When I got this hammerhead from my lfs a couple weeks ago I noticed that it had a spot in the middle that was dying (maybe thats why it was only $15).  Since then it has continued to degenerate.  As you can see the rest of it opens nicely.  All my water parameters check out fine so I dont know if the coral has a disease or something.  Anyway I have a couple of questions;  Can I stop the coral from losing more tissue and would it be possible to split it down the middle where it is already dead?  Thanks.