Lepanthes calodycton leaf rot

[vraev]

Hey guys,

I have this L. calodycton which seems to be having this leaf rot issue which I also had with a L. telipogoniflora. I have a lot of those small brown snails...so I think that is the cause. The sad part is this plant is super robust...it grows 5 leaves at a time...fantastic grower...but even while the new growth is opening ...the leaf starts to die like this and dies. I also figured the mount is getting too old...over 2y...so time to remove some of the dying sphagnum moss...I know root rot may also cause such issues...atleast in other plants.







so this is what I did...I pulled out as much moss as I could...







So...understandably..I was stunned with the roots. It looked real nice and healthy... I removed a lot of the old moss and hopefully it should be better with all the air in there. I want to remove it from the mount...clean it off fully and plant on a new mount...so that in the process I can maybe get rid of the snails/eggs.

But a the roots are embedded in the mount. Any suggestions on how to remove this plant? Furthermore, is there a way I can split it ?? I never split lepanthes before. Is a piece of root enough to create a new plant?

What do u guys also think about the issue? Is it root issues or snails?

thanks

V