Separate roots or leave them?

So I started 4 plants in a single DWC. 2 of them became males and I clipped them down leaving just the stalk. I was left with the root system of these two males intertwined with the females in the water. Everything has done fine for the first couple weeks but the stalks are starting to go soft and squishy. Temperature of the water is about 69.6° All roots in the DWC look good and smell healthy even the ones that were cut. I've used Hydroguard throughout the whole grow. I'm looking for opinions on my next steps.

How far along are you?

I just had this issue where i actually broke the main root system off one of my plants. I went in and trimmed off what roots I could tell were its and got the stem out of there. Just cut at the base of the roots and take the stem/stump out because it'll get yucky.

I left a lot of dead roots in there intertwined with the live roots for at least a month and had no problem at all. I also use hydroguard. So no worries, just carry on like normal after ridding of the stump.

This is what my healthy roots look like. The two that I cut a couple weeks back have slowed down and not quite as robust. Thank you for the input