So I decided to give up on this plant and got rid of it. From what you guys were saying, that both the roots and the leaves were unhealthy, it really didn't seem like it was likely to survive, and I didn't want it to slowly die over a period of a few months. That just seemed cruel. I'm giving up on plants altogether. I have killed every plant I've ever owned except for one, despite going into it with the best of intentions for care. Aloe is supposed to be the easiest plant to take care of and I still messed it up somehow. It's clear that I'm just a failure when it comes to nurturing living beings in general. I have one cactus left that (I think) is doing well (it just put on new growth a few weeks ago) and I'm going to find another home for it ASAP. I really don't want to bring living things into my home just to kill them. Thanks for your responses.

If you can show us a photo, it would help. Otherwise, if you suspect over-watering, pull/cut off the faded bloom-stalks ... and let the plant soil dry out. Once the soil is drier, you can add a bit of water just to moisten the soil. (Others here may suggest that you take the plant out of its pot, cut of any limp/brown (i.e. dead) roots, and then repot. They may advise bagging or doming the plant also, but I'll let them speak to that.) If you're fortunate, the plant may revive in a few weeks to a month.

The particle size of the cactus soil I used was a little fine with some larger chunks but I thought it's whole purpose of it is good drainage and the bark and lots of perlite would help. I knew there was an issue when no water drained after a 2L soak. I would normally water with 3L and about 1/2L drained into the tray but now not even a drop. I often remind growers of the fact that what it says on the bag is not a reliable indication of what you can expect the bag's contents to be. IOW, advertising almost always intentionally leads you to believe what is a lie, even though there is a built-in escape hatch for charges of fraud. The Keebler elves might tell you their crackers are "Made With 100% Whole Wheat Flour" which makes you want to believe you're buying extra healthy fare, all that fiber & stuff, yet the product could contain less than 1% whole wheat flour and the claim is still technically honest. Look at the horrendous and ridiculous claims made by formulators of the product 'Superthrive', yet they get away with it. Think of a tub half full of sand. Add a handful of perlite to the sand and mix. Does it add porosity to the mix or help with drainage? No. When you start with a very large fraction of fine particles, you really can't "amend it" effectively. What enables the grower to take advantage of high porosity and superior drainage is a very large fraction of coarse material amended with a small fraction of fine material, if any. Sorry about the quality of the image below. I think you can read all but the line that says 'Figure 2. The effect of mixing coarse and fine media components on porosity, water retention, and aeration in drained containers. Above, OR HERE, read why adding some chunky material (bark, perlite, etc) to a large fraction of fine material takes you backward in that it actually reduces o/a porosity of any given volume of medium. It's only after you have reached a 'threshold proportion', the point at which there is no longer enough fine material to fill all large air spaces between the coarse particles, that aeration increases. Because perlite is almost synonymous with 'drainage' and 'aeration' in the minds of most growers, it's far too often relied upon as a remedy for media we consider poor due to excess water retention. As you can see, if you're not adding a large enough fraction of coarse material (80-95%) to ensure there is little or no perched water AND not enough fines to fill large pores between coarse material, you're shooting yourself in the foot. What you tried to do ended up reducing the the amount of aeration & o/a porosity w/o improving drainage. Al

Did you 'pot up' w/o much interaction with the root system, or actually 'repot', which includes bare-rooting, root pruning, and a complete change of the grow medium? It's not unusual for plants that were fully repotted to wilt for a day or so after you've completed the root work, especially if you neglected to keep the roots wet for the duration of the repotting session. Repotting is stressful, but I'm not sure I would call the stress extreme. My take is, if it was so extreme, I would be seeing plants forfeit their viability at least here and there; but, I fully repot at least 200 plants per year and I can't remember the last plant I lost to the stress of repotting. I typically see fewer than 1/3 of the plants I repot present any symptoms of wilting, and the symptoms in those plants typically last only 2-3 days at most. BTW - I've never had to tent a plant after a repot, and I often remove up to 90% of the plant's root mass in a repotting session if the plant is healthy and I have a history of having cared for the species to which it belongs ..... but nothing wrong with being cautious, I suppose. I'll watch to see what you have to say insofar as answers to the questions about what procedure you followed. Best luck, Alexis. Al