Fecal Float Slides-Pics and Count?

Status
Not open for further replies.

corrieor

Member
Hi! I'm new to posting on here, but have been lurking and gathering a wealth of information since September when my daughter first decided to use her birthday money on a beardie.

Comet is six months old, in a 40 gallon breeder, on tile, basking temp 90-95 F/surface 100-105 F, cool temps 70-80. I have a heat element that I put on his screen at night to keep the temps 63+ until our high desert winter is gone (at this rate it may be July), and a Reptisun 10.0 UVB, his preferred basking spot is around 6" away.

He's currently 127 g and 14.5" long-when we got him, he was 16 g and 6" long. He's never had a HUGE appetite, but his appetite has increased proportionally to his size. His mom isn't a big girl, so I don't expect him to get really huge.

I recently did a fecal float and saw evidence of coccidia so I did a repeat the next day (my slide making technique was a bit flawed the previous day)-pics of what I found are below. I gave him one 0.05 cc dose of Baycox (Toldrazuril) 5% - which made our mellow guy really mad - puffed up his beard which I've only seen him do a handful of times prior to this.

I'm wondering if I should do the second dose tomorrow or just follow the one treatment schedule? He's such a mellow little guy and he's been stressed all day - his beard is black when he's in his tank and he's very cautious when he's out. Could this also be a side effect of the medicine? I worry that a second dose will stress him more and will negate any positive effects of a second dose.

I'm also wondering if I can use a dairy free acidophilus from the local health food store if the feed store doesn't have Bene-Bac or Acidophilus +. I live in a small town-I can order it and have it here by Friday-but otherwise it's a 60 mile round trip to get into town to get one that's reptile specific. How essential is it that he gets this right away? I know when I've had to take a gut-stripping med, I start eating yogurt and taking probiotics the same day or it wrecks me so my instinct is to get them into him ASAP.

Here are the pics-I can't recall enough microbiology to remember how to do a correct count. I'm pretty sure this is a lot-but is it enough to warrant a second dose given the stress it causes him. I've also posted a pic of some spots. The ones on his tail have been there for a couple weeks-they haven't gotten any better or any worse. The yellow splotches on his belly just showed up over the last few days.

Thanks in advance for any help!!!

Fecal Float Pics(I have more, these are the only ones I've uploaded):

5.jpg

10.jpg


Belly/tail spots:

IMAG2128.jpg


Angry dragon :x

IMAG2129.jpg
 

corrieor

Member
Original Poster
Bump...

I gave the second dose today. It stressed him out, but not as bad. I managed to get him to take a lot by licking it off of his nose and only had to give 1/4 of it via the side of his mouth. He's not eating and his beard is black, so I'm watching him.

Any input on the spots on his belly/tail?

TIA!
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

The spots on his tail look like retained scales that should come off in a bath, using a soft toothbrush.
The spots on the belly look a little suspicious though. Was he on any medications prior to the Toltrazuril?
I would start giving a daily bath, using diluted betadine, along with some anti-fungal cream such as monistat or lamisil to see if that helps on the yellowish spots.
I would get some probiotics also, to help his tummy in case he has an upset stomach.

Try to get oral fluids into him also daily to help. I hope he is doing better soon.

Tracie
 

ChestersPet

Member
Nice job on your slide! If you want a real count you need a different slide that has a grid pattern on it. I can't remember the name since I don't work with them but when you have a certain number of organisms per square on average then it would be considered pathogenic. For a human pathogenesis occurs when an organism count reaches 10 to the 6th power per ml derived from a grid count or a different computerized counter. For a beardie that should be way lower since they are a much smaller creature. Another point to make is that you should write down what dilution ratio you are using for your fecal sample. Record the amount of fecal matter you used to make the sample along with how much diluted water. Only use diluted water or you may find other things that he doesn't have. If you have access to a table top centrifuge, I would spin your sample in a 10ml vial tube at a low rpm for just a few minutes to separate the heavier particles so they don't get in the way of your counts. Using a pro-biotic would be a good idea since it would help to replenish the "good" micros in his system that help aid his immune response. Sometimes by adding more of the good guys, we can eliminate the bad guys. Good luck and i hope the best for you and yours!
 

corrieor

Member
Original Poster
Thank you! They are't the best slides-the debris got in the way and doing it on my improvised lab station wasn't exactly ideal lol. I searched everywhere for instructions on doing a proper count because I no longer have my micro text book, but couldn't find any. The computer image has the grid on it, it just doesn't translate to the image when it's captured. I don't have access to a centrifuge, but am considering going back to school (third time lol) to get my Medical Laboratory Technician certification, then I would definitely have access, but for now I'm limited to the microscope and slides that I have. I may try to look at the preferences on the microscope capture program and see if it will capture the image with the grid.

He's being treated with a probiotic but is currently on a hunger strike. Between the force feeding of the probiotic after accidentally overdosing him on the Baycox, and the stress of having too much medicine in him, he's not liking much of anything right now. Still working on it, though. I'm a big believer in probiotics...I wish you could feed them Kombucha!

Thanks again,
Corrie
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Sorry I didn't cover the slides & the counts!
How is he doing today? Which probiotics are you giving him now?

On the counts, if you just view a "field" on the slide, anything higher than a few in that field would account to numerous ones on the slide, depending on how many grids you had on the slide. Overall counts higher than 20 for the entire slide needs to be treated.
Most of the time, vets do a count based on 1-4 & any count higher than 3-4+ needs treatment.
In larger animals, they count the eggs per gram of fecal sample to get an estimate.
Is he still on a hunger strike?

Keep us posted on him.
Tracie
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Members online

No members online now.

Latest resources

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

I miss you so much, Amaris 💔
What is a quick way to warm up a cold beardie? His heating element went out overnight and now he's very cold.
Pearl Girl wrote on moorelori1966's profile.
i feel so sad reading your about me 😢
Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank

Forum statistics

Threads
155,898
Messages
1,255,672
Members
75,965
Latest member
williamyoung
Top Bottom