Yikes! If it's not mealies, could it be mold? Good luck!

Root mealybugs can be seen with the naked eye (euphorbia-international.org):

Are mealies equally attracted to soil as well as non soil mixes?

Is it gel-like? I've seen cheaper soils use the gel stuff to help retain moisture.

Mealies don't discriminate between soil types. If they exist, and the plant is tasty, they will feast.

One thing that always baffles me is how they can appear out of nowhere, even if you have no new plants, and your own plants are kept inside. Same with scale. I guess we could be carrying the bugs in from outside on us?

That looks like mealies to me. Fungi would be throughout the soil not just at the root. I've never seen Mealy Bugs like like in aurorawa's pic. Thy always have the white stuff spread along the root. You should be able to pic one of the larger ones off and spray it with alcohol and see the body.

This post is for naught. What did you decide to do Monica?

I'd be suspicious of mealies, too. I'd drench with BATS just to be safe. I've never seen them as distinctly as in Aurora's photo, either, but that's not to say that you can't sometimes. Oh, and Aurora, I remember years ago, I brought home a bunch of bananas and when I was putting them away, I found mealies on the stem at the top! I had no idea they could come in on fruit! And a hint someone gave me years ago... when you are spraying a plant with alcohol that you've found a mealy or mealies on, spray UNDER THE RIM of the pot as they hide there. I went straight home to a pot I'd recently found them on and sure enough - there was a little nest of them under the rim! So now I always check under the rims when watching for the buggers!

Denise in Omaha

Well, this was my second shot at giving Cowboyflowerman an order! Guess I learned my lesson. I ordered 4 Hoyas and can't remember which Hoya this is. Ugh!!!!

I guess I'll have to repot (bare root) all 4 of them. Now I just hope they haven't already spread to other plants!!