Sick opuntia microdaysis & now spiral cactus too (photos in 2nd post)

[raindancer01]

Last month I noticed white bits appearing on my opuntia. Sprayed cactus with plant anti fungus at first as I mistook it for that, then looked online, realised my mistake.mealy bug, oops, at leastfungus won't be touching my cactus now too. Checked others nearby but they seem ok so just monitoring but the opuntia is the only casualty it seems (other than a new plant which I think was the culprit that infected it). Been treating with isopropyl alcohol water mix which has killed off most of the bugs on the cactus (other plant I think was too far gone, it arrived wilty, didn't thrive & died anyway-trouble is it was a white suuculent so same colour as the mealy bugs until it started turning brown). To speed things up so the microdaysis can come out of isolation faster & back to the window for direct light also sprayed with systemic pesticide yesterday to kill the stragglers. It has also been repotted to a bigger pot as needed repotting anyway as pot was tipping, and roots carefully washed and left to dry before hand, I couldn't see bugs on or anything wrong with roots.

Unlike the succulent, I think the cactus will be ok, but other problem with it is it is top heavy due to shape & all the pads and keeps tipping. Can you get supports that are suitable for keeping them upright? . I kind of like its quirky shape with pads all over the place tbh, Or is it better to remove the upper pads anyway as they were the infected part (although treated now). Cactus itself is still a good/normal colour, feels firm all down length & pads and aside from recovering from the infection and tipping without support (have it leaning against a wall atm), which it was doing before the infection anyway, it seems do be doing well despite everything. and the shape makes it awkward for normal plant support sticks to hold it up and most others I've come across seem designed for outdoor plants not indoor potted & so worried they either won't fit in the pot, or wont be wide enough to support the wider top where the cactus needs it.

Whats the best thing to do? I will take pads off to lighten the load if it is better for the cactus at this stage (its still currently in isolation). I'm guessing they'd regrow eventually anyway?

If nothing else I guess the mealy bug infection will teach me to always isolate new plants in future.Anyway thanks for reading & if anyone has any tips or advice on anything else I can/should do to help the opuntia microdaysis further recover & help it not tip over, its much appreciated.

[raindancer01]

Well thought I'd found a solution to the microdaysis tipping, maybe not as this morning the support had moved in the soil too. Not so sure the microdaysis isnt going to die now either look closely at the bottom of it to see why. Might need water as I skipped watering it in favour of repotting one because it needed it and two because I wanted to check for root mealy (I don;'t think they are though as all the ones I found were at the top. (does the alcohol spray/ water mix dry it out? it was more water than alcohol though) but I just repotted it so can't be watered anyway. Heres some pictures of it and a spiral cactus I think is joining the lets get sick and die party too ..unless its just corking but not optomistic...I will get some plant ties, the clips are just temporary on the microdaysis cactus but they are lightweight & don't grip hard so I don't think they'll hurt the cactus, at least not worse than it already is.

[raindancer01]

also that scabby mark on the spiral has been there awhile and not spread or moved, not sure if its just a scar or what, havent seen mealys on it yet though, I'm more worried about the brown at the bottom with this one. Other spiral seems healthy although not wanting to jinx it.

[raindancer01]

Just read online on a help page that wrinkling at the bottom can be dehydration so watered the microdaysis. Didn't want to as not long been repotted & don;t know if it will help or kill it, probably the latter way things are going at the moment, but don't know what else to try at this stage its going to die anyway I think if I do nothing so whats to lose?. Bottom is wrinkled and turning pale. Will see how things go. Spiral is still the same. Was also recently repotted. Other spiral already in a bigger pot is fine.