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What a nasty little bug! I don't have those, but I'm glad you put the pictures up. Our purple coneflowers were similarly deformed last year, so perhaps they had some sort of mite.
That's interesting that the aloes start suckering from it--is that a self-preservation thing? It "knows" it's in danger of dying, so it duplicates itself?
The suckering I am sure is due to damage of the meristem, not a defense behavior. A lot of plants that get damaged meristems (growing centers) start to abnormally sucker at that site (palms, cycads, Agaves, etc. do this frequently)
Have you tried spraying your succulents with aerated compost tea? There is some excellent research which indicates that by restoring the healthy microbiology to both the soil & the leaves, the natural food chain will kick back in and the natural predators of the mites will be restored. They have even been able to eliminate Oak Root Fungus from infected trees with this method. It's a program which must be followed, rather than a quick fix. Check out soilfoodweb.com for more information. Good luck!
