Ever Damage A Stylus Using Cleaning Brush?

I don't use the ZeroDust, but I know of some issues involving its use.  I know two people who accidentally pulled the cantilever out of their cartridge using the ZeroDust or similar product.  If you lift it out of gel too fast, that force, which is in the opposite direction of the force the cartridge is designed to take, may do damage.  If you use this product, use the cuing lever to very slowly lift the stylus out of the gel.  Secondly, there are people who have reported a very difficult to remove residue depositing on the stylus and cantilever from the product. There was an article in Stereophile (Michael Fremer) about this in the past year.  

As to the OP reporting occasional distortion at about the same point on a record, that is somewhat unusual, but I've seen it happen.  In one case, the arm would slightly bind when in a particular position--I think it had to do with the tonearm wiring.  In the other case, the curing platform did not get completely out of the way when cued down and would slightly lift the arm at one point of play.  

I agree with Mulveling that excessive wear is not likely with a high quality cartridge after such a short time--if the cartridge is at fault, it is either damage in handling or the cartridge suspension is at fault.  I also don't think your alignment can be that far off as to be the cause of mis-tracking, particularly if you use something as precise as a mint protractor.  

@prof and @mulveling worth checking. If we’re not taking mm differences in overhang then you can easily get distortion. Not familiar with mint protractor. I used Dr. Feichert New Generation that gives you more precise adjustments using the pivot to spindle ruler that sets the protractor in the proper position for the overhang adjustment. None of this is exact science anyway. 
Also, I mentioned cartridge wear as the last possible option and yes it’s unlikely in that time frame to wear out a cartridge.

If you’re confident your overhang is correct then I rest my case. Just clean your records before you play them and you should not experience any distortion. 

prof

From your description of the incident I going to say that your cartridge is OK and to guess that when the brush stroke when higher than normal that you cleaned of a speck of dirt that could have been the culprit collecting the dust bunnies .

I've tried the magic eraser and the zero dust but stopped using both , I now use blue tack alternating with a discwasher stylus brush , I use the magnifying glass from the zero dust to see what I'm doing . It helps that my TT is mounted to the wall over the system rack . About once a week I'll use liquid cleaner. About once a month I use The Cardas frequency and burn-in record that creates an ultrasonic cleaning cycle during the frequency sweep band ,