White spots and vanishing cactus "body"

[kjcactusboys]

Hi all,

I'm having a problem with one of my cactus. It looks okay last weekend when I watered it slightly, however as I came home from work today, I noticed that something is wrong with the cactus.

It seems to be like the "body"/green layer of the cactus is vanishing, as it was supposed to be flat on the gravel.

Secondly I noticed that there are some white spots/clusters spread all over the cactus which was not there last weekend. Pictures are attached below.

Anyone knows what is the problem this particular cactus of mine is having and is there a way for me to combat/heal it ?

Cactus body vanishing view 1

IMG_7565 (Medium).JPG (33.22 KiB) Viewed 852 times

Cactus body vanishing view 2

IMG_7566 (Medium).JPG (38.64 KiB) Viewed 852 times

White cluster on cactus side

IMG_7567 (Medium).JPG (40.16 KiB) Viewed 852 times

White cluster on top of cactus

IMG_7568 (Medium).JPG (42.75 KiB) Viewed 852 times

[kjcactusboys]

anyone has any ideas ?

[phearis]

That looks a lot like Mealy Bugs. Your cactus is producing chemicals to try and kill them.

There are several treatment options. A few years ago, I had very good results with dish soap and water.

[7george]

Sometimes small perlite particles look like this. Try those bugs with a sharp stick/needle - must be soft and easy to smash.

Warm weather means bugs are active again.

[iann]

It does look like mealies (although impossible to be sure from the photos), but they wouldn't appear in large numbers in a week. Just about anything substantial that happens to a cactus in one week isn't good. A cactus that suddenly oozes white sap in multiple places is probably dead.