Sawdust-like Pest! Help!

[concernedcactus]

Hello! I recently discovered what I believe to be an infestation on my pot of hens and chicks. I cannot identify the pest, as I see no bugs on the plant itself. However it looks as if someone dumped sawdust upon spiderwebs. I have had spiders on my plants before, so the webs did not initially concern me, however now the sawdust-looking infestation is quite large. The plant does not appear to be suffering as of now, but we all know how that goes!
I thought perhaps it was a "mealybug" infestation as I had seen a couple of those bugs a month or so ago, however it doesn't look that much like a mealybug infestation as the color is more of a brownish color and I see no physical bugs on the plant. If they are eggs, it must be thousands.

Unfortunately I do not have a picture as I tried to wipe the infestation off of the plants before thinking of posting here. There is not much evidence left (except for the little bits I couldn't reach).
If anyone has any idea what may be the problem I could really use some helps and tips to prevent / get rid of infestations such as this!

[applestar]

Did you say this stuff was ON the plant? What's on the soil looks a bit like salt-bloom to me. That would be salts in the soil rising to the top of the soil by capillary action and evaporating into crystalline form. Typical of chemical fertilizer salts.

If that's what this is, I would just scoop out the salts, then --- well, normal course of action would be to water heavily to flush excess salts out of the soil, but maybe not with succulents? Not sure about that part.

[imafan26]

It helps if you use rain water, not tap if your water is hard.

[concernedcactus]

The stuff is on the leaves. I will still try what you suggested and repot the plant! Thanks for your help.