Ginseng Ficus with White Fur and Dead Leaves

Shesquint

The relevant information:

My ginseng ficus is, in fact, a mallsai, and before you go jumping down my throat about it, you should know that it was a gift from a well-meaning but uninformed person. They were told that it is seven years old. I water it about once a week, whenever its soil is less than damp. I'm not sure what it's planted in, but it smells precisely like wet dirt after a spring rain (heavenly!). Right now it's living on my dining room table, because I'm having a little aphid problem with my outdoor plants and I don't want my ficus to be affected. It's under a grow light - the same one which is doing wonders for my as-yet-untrained Fukien tea sapling - and gets 6-10 hours of "sunlight" from it every day.

Recently, all of the leaves dried out, turned brown, and started falling off. The trunk looks decidedly less robust than it used to. Worst of all, there is a mysterious off-white fuzz growing all over it! The fuzz is strictly on the trunk and exposed roots. It's very dry, with a texture like ... I dunno, maybe raw cotton. I wipe it off, and it's back worse than ever within a few days.

Can anyone identify the mystery fuzz? What can I do about it? Is there any hope for my poor little tree?

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