I had looked up the life cycle of the mealies and this plant has been mealy free for many months now, long past any reproductive cycle. So, I can't figure out if somehow the mealies have been hiding out all this time, inactive, or if this is a new infestation. It is suspicious because it is the only plant in my collection that has the problem, and only the mother plant's pot. So that's why I think I need to do a soil drench with a pesticide as whatever I've done so far has been a failure. An annoying garden problem.

Looks sunburnt. Suggest separating cactus from succulents; succulents need more frequent water than cacti. (not frequent; but more frequent than cacti). Pot also looks much too large, unless it's only about 2" deep. Also if you can let them all summer outside, the cacti in full sun, the echeverias in a few hours of early morning sun. Plants should be introduced very very gradually to direct sun to avoid sunburn.

Here is a pic of my sick Agavoides. Same thing happened with mine the water wasn't draining. Stupid pot;)! It's lost some of it's size because I had to remove a bunch of soggy leaves:(. It started getting a couple yellow leaves like this. So I pulled it out of its pot asap! I found damp soil at the bottom:(. It was healthy one minute then started going south quickly. I think it should make a turnaround. Luckily it still had some roots:)! Here are some other Agavoides I have. I think what was once my biggest is no longer:). I keep mine on my porch so no direct sun. So that's why they're all green:). An Agavoides Ebony that is clearly not getting enough sun. Today is the day I will start acclimating him to more sun. So he can get those dark edges:). A little story with this guy. A couple years ago we recieved hail for about 30 seconds. Let's just say ice got stuck in between some leaves. So my Ebony began to rot. It's been two years and I think he's in the clear. I've kept him in the shade while he grew. I had to remove sooo many rotten leaves. The hail made him go from about 8 inches wide to probably about 4 inches wide. Last thing. Sorry for the overflow if Agavoides. I just think they're so pretty:)! One of my favs my Agavoides crest:).

The 'magnifying glass' idea doesn't work for me either, while I understand that many ppl strongly believe in it. I would re-examine the mix; doesn't sound good and well draining: too much of soil and sand that are likely fine and stay too wet for too long, and very little perlite that helps drainage. Have you sprayed in full sun? It may have burned the leaves - not because of magnifying glass theory but chemical (?) reaction in strong light & heat. Methylated spirits could be drying and irritating to human skin - possibly to plants too? Will not kill plants - it is about 90% alcohol with some additives. One of them is methanol that is highly toxic (but not in small amount added to spirits I believe...) Is same damage on all your echeverias? How many plants with this kind of damage? Joey - I don't see you mentioning your general location/growing zone. Please...add to your name as others did. It may help to give better advice and/or figure out possible problems.