Daily ‘Is there any chance this isn’t thrips?/it’s definitely thrips and I’m just in denial’ thread

Sigh.

I know in my heart it's prob thrips but I'm optimistically hoping it could be where he's (Richard the Second) fallen over/been knocked over by my child a few times…. 😬

Back story: was doing ok and then we went on holidays for two weeks, so I gathered all my house plants, chucked them together in one room in a tray of water for a bit of company/humidity. Cue a blazing heat wave while we were away. Came back and he was on his side and who knows how long he was like that, so all of the plant trauma – drought, fall damage, prob some leaf burn from the sun and now likely pest infestation.

Since then, however, I've found probable thrips on an aloe and the Richard the First propped cuttings that was in the same room (now quarantined/chucked).

Have applied neem/soapy water mix all over and separated them all, but poor Rich II is looking pretty sad.
He's putting out air roots like crazy (prob to stabilise himself from all the falls 😂), but no new leaves or signs of any. I have been over him with a magnifying glass and haven't seen any actual thrips but I doubt I'm THAT lucky.

Have ordered some predatory mites and bionide systemic granules from eBay (hoping they're genuine article).
Any other advice? Or is he too far gone? How much distance do I need between all of my plants? For insurance, my rubber plant looks good and is about 25ft away but no wall or door separation. My pileas are still seemingly ok and haven't really been nearer than 15ft.
My palm is looking a bit sorry for itself however….

Also, where do they come from?? I was doing so well for a while there! 😭