Anyone recognize what might be afflicting my black prince? One of these plants has been scabby and going downhill for a while now. The other is quite new from the nursery but already showing signs of the same issue. Some sort of microscopic bug? I've tried isopropyl alcohol to no real avail. Help! :(

I do not recognize this issue. Maybe it's some kind of virus? I would discard the plant if the situation seems to be getting worse over time. Nothing weird in the water? Judging by the color, you've been providing good light.

Ditto. Dump it. They are a dime a dozen. Not worth the risk of spreading. Use some Hydrogen Peroxide to clean up anything it and the pot touched.

My best guess is it's a tissue culture issue. It does not surprise me, every grower, even those with no experience with succulents are growing this particular plant. These kinds of things happen in the annual industry, when a plant gets over produced.

My first choices is always buy from a succulent grower or a local nursery that buys from a succulent grower.

The other option, for the more common plants is Proven Winners they have a line of succulent that includes Black Prince. I'm not in any way wanting to promote PW, but their tissue cultures would be clean. They even inspect the growers they sell their starts/cuttings/plugs to, to make sure there are certain standard adhered to. If you are finding diseased plants with their name on it, contact them.

Hi, thanks so much for the feedback—I had not even thought of that possibility. I've had many black princes over the years and it seems like this ALWAYS happens to them, but I keep buying them because I had a really beautiful pot full of them I enjoyed so much several years ago. Thought this might be mealybugs because I did have an outbreak of them among my succulents this summer, but they seem to be eradicated, and the black princes were the only plants still looking poorly.
Thanks again