All "cured" means is that there is no more die off on the rock causing ammonia or nitrite. After 4 1/2 years of no nutrients being added there isn't going to be a whole lot of life, but there will be enough there to seed a new population. Pods may not still be there however, but the nitrifying bacteria should still be intact inside the rock. You might want to find someone with some established chaeto that has a bunch of pods in it, and shake it in your tank to seed some pods.
Personally though, I would add a few cocktail shrimp, or squirt 15 mysis shrimp in there or something like that, leave it for 3 days, and test ammonia and nitrite. I wouldn't be concerned about adding it to a tank right now, but I would be a bit hesitant to add too many fish right away. I always add corals first anyway as they help to process fish waste, and put out only a small amount of waste which would be enough to kick start the rock back up. I think you will be surprised how quickly it purple's up.
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~ Mindy
SPS fanatic.
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