Another Yellow Fungus Case

Hi, I'm new here, just thought I'd share my experience so far with CANV and what our plans are moving forward. I adopted 2 female beardies together. They had been dropped off at a local pet store, so I have no info of prior care, age, health, etc. I have since learned what a bad move that was!
Anyway, long story short, they both had some odd grey spots that my vet advised me to keep an eye on through the next shed. Of course, both got worse, the smaller of the two (Sweet Dee) rapidly. It was almost as if the day we did swabs for CANV, she started to decline. Her patterns of infection were very much like what you read about- on her face, around her vent and tail and one foot. She stopped eating, fought syringe feeding and was seemingly not digesting what I was getting into her. Her PCR for CANV came back negative, as did the PCR for the larger one (The Waitress).

The Waitress has only one spot, on her back, that has stayed relatively the same since the last shed. She hasn't lost any weight and her appetite and attitude have remained the same.

A week ago, we chose to euthanize Sweet Dee because she was doing so badly. The same day, we sent a skin biopsy from The Waitress to the histopathology lab, which did come back positive for CANV. I have been spraying her with F10SC for a couple weeks now and will be starting her on Voriconizole (sp) soon.

Now, the interesting part- we tested both for Atadenovirus- Sweet Dee, the smaller one who did badly- was positive; The Waitress was negative. I'm curious if anyone else has tested their CANV positive dragons for atadenovirus also? And has anyone ever completely gotten rid of the CANV?

Hello,

I am sorry you have had such a terrible time with yellow fungus & had to euthanize one of them.
I don't believe that adeno has a direct link to yellow fungus, but, being that it does suppress the immune system definitely leaves their system vulnerable to secondary infections, etc.
If caught early enough, it can be treated & cured as there are a few people on the forum who have had success with that. It seems like most of the cases though the fungus is caught too late & even with a harsh regime of treatments it doesn't help.
The Voriconazole is very good & should hopefully help to knock it out. I would also recommend giving a probiotic while she is on the rounds of medication, too.
What foods are you giving her with her syringe feedings?

Tracie

Hello - I am sorry to hear about your beardies. Voriconazole seems to be the best antifungal for CANV from the research I did, so it's good that The Waitress is starting it soon (love the name by the way). As Tracie mentioned, there are some threads out there about overcoming YF. My vet in particular treated a beardie for it successfully and the beardie remained free of it until he died from unrelated causes a couple of years after treatment.

I hope The Waitress is doing well.

What foods are you giving her with her syringe feedings?

Click to expand...

I was syringe feeding Sweet Dee, the one we euthanized.

The Waitress is still eating well, although she is deeply unhappy with me since her biopsy/debridement and loss of her sister (both happened on the same day). I'm sure its more bc of the physical pain from her procedure that she associates with me, but, you never know, she could be having some kind of loss feelings. The meds finally came in today, so we will compound them tonight and start them in the am. I'm going to try to inject it into blueberries, since those are her favorite.

I'll keep y'all posted if anything interesting happens.

Hi, sorry to hear it isn't going to well, and that you had to euthanize one of your babies!
How is it going with The Waitress now?, hopefully she is on the mend!!

She seems to be ok other than the fact that she kinda hates me right now, between medicating her in the am and spraying her with the F10 solution. She is still eating, basking, climbing. They take so long to heal, the spot still looks the same. We'll test it again when this round of meds is through.

Oh , I'm sure she'll love you again soon enough, wish you could make her understand that its just for her good! Hopefully she'll be completely fine again soon!!

Well, she shed 2 big chunks from the affected area and it looks really really good! I'm not going to repeat any tests until her meds are done, but things are looking up!

Hi, I'm super curious as to how she has been doing?

Hello,

Yes, that is a good question!
Definitely update us when you get a chance to let us know how your dragon is doing now.

Tracie

She's doing really well, except the part where she hates me, lol. We're kind of at a loss about how to make sure it is gone- it looks like CANV, acts like CANV, the biopsy indicates CANV, but 3 PCRs came back negative. I think we have a week or two of meds left, but things are definitely looking up. Here's pics of the progression of it. The first pic was in September, the last one was maybe a week ago. I think that spot is going to shed again soon. She hasn't had a full body shed in quite a while, although she shed her face last week and one foot recently.

Wow it looks completely gone! So happy for you. Hove she continues to improve.

On a somewhat unrelated note, how do beardies get yellow fungus? I read it is in the environment and if that's the case I am a little apprehensive of letting him roam my yard. I even made a clover patch just for him and now I am having second thoughts.

It's not really from roaming outside....all my dragons have outdoor areas that they roam + forage in with no ill effects in over 20 years. Generally Y.F. it is passed on from a mother carrying it, dirty conditions in a pet store or dirty breeder and a weak immune system from over use of deworming + antibiotic meds.

Hello,

That is wonderful, it appears his fungus has really cleared up! I hope that area sheds off soon & that it continues to improve in that fashion.
Is his appetite good also?


Tracie

She's trying like crazy to brumate, but she eats here and there. Unfortunately, while the biopsy came back negative, the fungal stain found "traces', so we're doing another round of meds, which should kick it (I hope). She had lost .05 of a kg, but, that could be the difference between her needing to poop or being full or both, lol. I'm going to increase her heat tomorrow in an effort to combat the urge to brumate, I want her up and active while on her meds.