Question
Dear Melissa,

My phal has been doing fairly well for a couple of years, but suddenly yesterday, I noticed that one of her middle leaves was wilting. Later in the evening, a bottom leaf below that began curling her edges downward. Read online and wasn't sure what was going on as it seems there could be many reasons for these symptoms.

Since I recently repotted her several weeks ago with a new bark medium and the top roots look shriveled, I first thought I may be underwatering her since I have always fed her via the "ice cube" method once a week. I did thoroughly water her this morning, draining out the excess water.

While draining, I noticed some strange spots and shapes on her flower petals that appear to be new, and a new brown spot on an upper leaf!  

-General care: Changes in the past several weeks may be around her repotting (gotten a yellow bottom leaf; discovered water was sitting in the bottom of the pot). She had a spike of 3 flowers; lost the outer flower a week later, and the innermost flower a few days after that.
watering/amount: She has been given the amount of water of 3 ice cubes most of her life, once a week. The only time I have ever given her a thorough watering before was right after the recent repotting and following a suggestion I read online. Since I have been so successful at watering her with the ice cube method, I had returned to that method in the past couple of weeks.
water/type of water: I used to use tap water that I would store for at least a week to dechlorinate. The past couple of months I have added a 1/8 t Schultz orchid food to a 1/2 gallon water. But online, saw suggestion to use distilled water, so have been using that the past couple of weeks.
misting: also have been misting almost daily. Have read that's not necessarily a good idea.
air flow: have left window open to air out room in the mornings for several hours.

The spotting on the flower, there are three spots that are irregular in shape, occurring near the stem of the top petal, that appeared translucent and are now starting to brown as seen from the back of the flower. Anyway, what is wrong?!  Also,how can I deal with it before it gets worse?  Any
advice on general care is also welcome.

Thanks for your advice!
Newbie OrchidMom

Answer
Dear Audrey, Your diligence and knowledge in taking care of this orchid is amazing!  I am very impressed at your methods.  Everything you have said about this orchid points to a fungal infection, and I think that you should begin to use a systemic fungicide for this orchid.  I actually had to do the same thing with an orchid and it should pull it out of this slump pretty quickly.  You want to find a fungicide with proprioconozole (think that is the spelling) in the label.  Generally you just spray it on the plant, let it dry, and then reapply every so often to keep the plant protected.  It is a great way to go with orchids because as most of them grow in a tropical, humid, and very specific environment, any deviation from the perfect climate can get them fungal diseases.  Other than that, I wouldn't mist the plant very often, unless it is with the fungicide mix or the temperature heats up.  Your orchid should improve very quickly and you will know it is well on the mend when it starts sending up new growth and you see no more new yellowing or spots.  I hope this information helps but be sure to write back if you have more questions.  By the way the photos didn't load, but I have seen this condition many times.  With most conditions, I recommend organic solutions, but orchids are usually the exception to the rule.  Good luck, Melissa