Aeonium 'kiwi' declining fast

This little Aeonium was growing quickly when it was suddenly hit by something. The edges and undersides of the leaves were damaged first, and within just a few days of the first visible damage, it was in bad shape. I'll post photos from March through yesterday so you can see how well it was doing and how rapidly this happened.

It is/was in a community pot with healthy Crassula, Graptopetalum, Echeveria, etc. None of the others have any symptoms. They were all in a 2:1 granite:diatomaceous earth grit mix, all particles around the size of cat litter. When the damage became noticeable, I moved them all to straight DE fearing dry medium might be contributing. The mix did dry out too fast, but I'd been watering 2-3 times weekly to compensate. I'll try to include a photo of the roots so you can see it isn't root rot or something. They're outside with 6-7 hours of direct sun daily. Temps have reached the low 90s just a few days, but mostly have been in the mid70s to mid-80s. Nights have been in the high 50s to 60s. They do not get rained on. I'm in western Oregon. They're on a second floor balcony so they're not being eaten by slugs or snails.

I have tried to ID a pest using a hand lens; a macro lens on a camera and then enlarging the photo; flicking the leaves over a piece of white paper and then examining the paper, but I can't see any bugs, eggs, honeydew, larvae, etc. Still, I feel strongly that this is a pest. I suspect a TINY mite that has attacked two other plants over the last year. The mite is much smaller than most spider mites and doesn't spin webbing, which might explain why I can't find bugs.

Anyone ever see this or know what it is?

Photos are
March 13 before it's growth spurt
May 29 growing like a weed
June 3 1st spotted damage
June 4 checked roots and repotted in straight DE because declining rapidly
Today - I've been spraying it with soapy water every few days

I'm totally new to this but I did read a lot about not mixing different types of succulents/cacti in one planter as they al lmay have different watering needs? Are you watering this too much or too little because of another plant's demands?

It looks like the variegated growth lost its chlorophyll (all yellow with no green) and from there on the affected rosettes began to fall apart. This is something that happens with some variegated Aeoniums and there's nothing to do but restart the plant from any surviving piece that has some healthy green tissue in it.

Thank you, Baja. I hadn't heard of this happening. Curious. Is the variegation in this species caused by a virus? It's my understanding that that's sometimes the case with variegated plants. My knowledge is minimal though. I'd been concerned about this little guy growing so white. I Wondered how the little remaining chlorophyll could provide for it, and how susceptible it might be to sunburn.

Thanks so much for that explanation. I've been wracking my brain trying to explain it.

The roots, stem, and branches all look fine. Should I just pinch off the rosettes and wait for it to back bud? Any special care it needs during this time? It's only my 3rd Aeonium, and my first 'Kiwi'.

I have no idea what causes variegation but it is often unstable. So it can revert back to green or go all the way to yellow depending on the situation. The stabler variegates are more valuable for this reason. Even some of the best variegated plants (eg. Aeonium "Sunburst") will do exactly what your plant is doing some fraction of the time.

If you want you can behead the plant where there is some green and force the plant to branch there (ideally make this cut relatively close to the end, where there are still some healthy leaves).

Variegated plants are usually weaker and slower than their normal counterparts, meaning they will be less demanding of light, water, and nutrients. When in doubt, give a variegated succulent some protection. The aforementioned "Sunburst" does really well here in day-long sun, so there are exceptions.

Thanks agIn, Baja. I'll pinch it back and see how it does. Thanks for the education and advice.

Now that I look back at your first pictures, I see that the variegation in those rosettes went from almost none to total in a really short time period... there could be an environmental cause for this. It's pretty extreme. I should pay better attention to the photos.

A couple of pictures here showing two examples of Aeonium "Sunburst", one with a cream "streak" along one side of the rosette. I normally dispose of any plants with a streak (does not bode well for their future) but I saved this one just to prove myself wrong.