No- it is not a disease, That's exactly how a healthy stem should look like. Ring and what not. It is less evident on light color leaf ones.

Better do not use pruners - but some kind of blade - razor or x-acto or a very sharp knife. Pruners squash the cut.

We usually do not use chicken grit in AV soil - so you will tell us later about your experience.

I.

Thanks so much for the confirmation Irina! Glad to hear I won't have to go through a decontamination process. I didn't get to repot anything else either so my efforts won't be wasted.

My pruners are the bypass type, the curved blade that's less likely to squash while cutting. I plan to find a second cutting tool to alternate between though so I'll likely look for a blade type as you suggested.

I added grit to prevent the perlite from traveling too much to the top of the cup. I know eventually the peat ends up washed down at bottom as the perlite floats up so I'm hoping the grit will keep the peat and perlite in place. I'll make sure to update on the mix in the future when the AV starts new growth! Thanks so much again!

If you water from the bottom - the perlite will be less prone to floating.

I buy razor blades in Office Depot for leaves- and keep a sharp knife for the surgery on "palm trees".

Everybody has his own tools and tricks,