I think my cactus is sick : (

[RenRose]

I have a group of small cacti that I got seven years ago when I started university. The other day I noticed that one of them has started to go brown and shrivelled in a small patch on its side. None of the others look sick and they've never been ill in the whole time I've had them. I've included a picture so you can see what I mean as it's easier than describing it. Does anyone have any idea what's happening and how I can fix it?



Thanks in advance.

Ren xx

[iann]

Something has damaged the plant. Possibly a pest, possibly a spray or sunburn. The damage actually looks quite old.

I would say it isn't fatal, although if there are pests you should get rid of them.

[RenRose]

What should I do to treat it?

[RenRose]

Please help! I don't want my plant to die. I can't find pictures of anything else like it on the internet so I can't even guess at what the problem/solution is. I don't even know what type of cactus it is.

[Peterthecactusguy]

I think it's a Mammillaria. As for treatment that would depend on what is wrong with it. I would follow Ian's advice. Are there pests? I cant see any but I dont have the plant in front of me.

[RenRose]

There are no bugs of any sort on it. It just looks like the little nodules that make up the plant have randomly started to rot away in the middle.

[Peterthecactusguy]

then is it possible it had mechanical damage?

[RenRose]

Did you mean did someone knock it over? Nope. It's just been sitting on the shelf it normally sits on. I'm the only one who waters them so I'm the only one who ever moves or lifts them up and it's never been knocked over or been near anything sharp that could puncture it or anything. The spikes are very long so it's practically impossible to touch the fleshy parts anyway. Should I perhaps re-pot it and check the roots? I've got it in isolation from the others at the moment just in case.

[Robb]

The two most common cactus pests mealy bugs and red spider mites, if it has mealys it will have small white bugs between tubercles, red spider mites are tiny little red spiderish things that cause isolated damage on cacti. have a look for those two pests and lets see if we can solve this problem!!