the spatula I thought was stainless steel turned out to be Nickle
LOL
Stainless steel is basically an alloy of nickel and iron.
Nickel is in general more "stainless" than stainless steel, which is why that spatula is nickel.
What probably happened.
PdCl -> Pd
Ni -> NiCl2
You should never stir solutions with such a spatula, thats what glass stirring rods are for. Those spatulas are made for weighing out DRY chemicals and nothing else.