Hi Mani. You've got bugs! Probably thrips. Get the plant outside asap and blast them off with a fine, sharp blast from an outdoor hose nozzle or sprayer. Tilt the plant and make sure to spray from all angles to get way inside, under, and around. Prune off all the dead, dying, and rotten leaves. With this one it is ok to prune off half a leaf just to only get the bad stuff. Agitate the soil with your sprayer or consider replacing the top inch of soil. Get it quickly back indoors in a warm spot to dry off. Repeat in a few days as you see a few come back, but it will be too soon to get the soil wet, so carefully tip the plant at an angle and avoid wetting the soil. Keep repeating this biweekly for a few weeks and you'll be rid of them. No poisons or oils are necessary. Your real problem here though is that your plant's own internal defences are very weak. It looks like mostly much-too-low light. You need to get it a lot more. These are full sun plants. Start fertilizing lightly frequently when you see the new good growth start after you give it good light. Does your plant also have good drainage? The water can run freely out of holes in the bottom of the pot? One note, thrips do tend to jump over easily to neighbor plants, so check the others around it and treat them the same. :)
Thanks Tom! It does have good drainage.....i'll try doing as you suggest....i hope i've not been too slow! Are any house plants immune to thrips? Perhaps Cactus or other succulents?
I think I remember hearing that the jungle cactus like Christmas cactus are, but I'm not 100% sure. Almost any plant is virtually immune when it's grown properly. It's own internal defences make it unappetizing. I've seen thrips pick out the one weak plant in a crowded bunch and leave all the other plants around it even when they're touching.
