Isospora present, no symptoms

Did a fecal check a week or two after bringing home a five month old dragon. LJ has no symptoms, is alert and active, has 4.0 UVI and 85 UVB at basking spot, and good temperature gradient through enclosure. We did a prophylactic fecal and he had isospora present, but vet said he thought we didn't need to treat without symptoms. So, I know these bugs are often present, and considered somewhat normal in lower numbers, but I have not seen any articles recommending foregoing treatment. Would appreciate it if anyone could chime in on this non-treatment recommendation.

Hi there...LJ is a great looking red dragon. Does LJ stand for Larry Junior ? And your vet is correct if it's a small amount of coccidia, which is acceptable in a healthy beardie. Sometimes a newer dragon will actually show higher levels due to relocation stress and then the levels drop once the dragon is settled in their new home.

AHBD":2pcsc5hh said:

Hi there...LJ is a great looking red dragon. Does LJ stand for Larry Junior ? And your vet is correct if it's a small amount of coccidia, which is acceptable in a healthy beardie. Sometimes a newer dragon will actually show higher levels due to relocation stress and then the levels drop once the dragon is settled in their new home.

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Yes, it's Larry Junior! We call him junior or LJ, and he is a sweet little guy. Thank you for your reply; after a bad reptile vet experience, I want to be sure I don't make any big mistakes, and do my own research.

Wanted to chime in. My vet treated Daisy for coccidea the fist time to get the count down but said no further treatments needed unless causing problems like runny smelly stool. A small coccidia count is acceptable.

DaisyDragon123":2m0r73ey said:

Wanted to chime in. My vet treated Daisy for coccidea the fist time to get the count down but said no further treatments needed unless causing problems like runny smelly stool. A small coccidia count is acceptable.

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Oh, also interesting. did you retest after treatment? I hate to let this go until he shows symptoms, but I don't want to over treat either.

I had to go back for another issue and another fecal was done. She said treatment wasn't needed. The vet I went to only treats exotics.Apparently this is now the norm in treatment so I would go with what your vet said and I agree with AHBD above.

I was at work when I replied. It's not so much letting it go until symptoms appear as it is not treating unnecessarily. For example, most reptiles carry salmonella but few get sick from it unless their immune systems are out of whack. When salmonella makes the reptile sick the vet will treat, but to try to rid it of salmonella when it has no symptoms does more harm than good. Antibiotics are tough on their systems and can screw up the gut flora which can lead to other problems. Because coccidia is carried by so many dragons and it is so easy for a dragon to reinfect itself with coccidia oocysts and start the cycle over, most vets are now striving to keep the numbers in check rather than extensive antibiotic treatment to completely rid them. Just one ingestion of a coccidia oocyst and the cycle begins again. Oocysts are hard to kill. In humans think about staph bacteria. Many people carry staph on their skin and never get an infection. The doctor only treats you once you have a staph infection not while you are just a carrier with no active symptoms. Hope this helps.

Hello,

I honestly wish more vets would have a more conservative approach to medicating. I completely agree with not medicating if the coccidia levels were decently low & there were not any symptoms, either.
As suggested, many times just a relocation is enough to elevate their coccidia levels & once they are all settled in the levels should fall. They do have a normal gut flora that has low levels of coccidia & pinworms, but it does vary from dragon to dragon.

It sounds like he is doing terrific right now, he is a great looking dragon!

Tracie

Thank you Tracie and Daisy. I will monitor closely for any symptoms, but hold off treatment for now.
I'm enjoying the little cutie, but he won't eat his veggies. I tried holding back prey but he gives me these looks, and then glances to his empty bowl where I put his Phoenix worms. Can't take the guilt.. Hahah.

Just keep offering veggies. At his age his diet should be around 80% insect protein and 20% veggies with limited fruit so it is natural for him to gravitate towards his feeder insects etc. I get the same look as you with the occasional stink eye thrown in to make sure DaisyDragon's displeasure is duly noted.

This is rather disturbing. Any thoughts on these levels?

Here is a thread from this site that is about coccidia levels.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0ahUKEwjQytyMkNzJAhUCQD4KHehDA7EQFggpMAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.beardeddragon.org%2Fforums%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ff%3D45%26t%3D205962&usg=AFQjCNE09Rox15rwIusrUnPODqlE3EVKWQ&sig2=NC3FNBzUWtQ5Tlt-YoKnKA
I think your dragon has a moderate level right now but it may drop after she's more at home. Since she's doing well you might just let a couple months go by + have her re-tested. You might also p.m. Drache613 for her opinion.

AHBD":1iaud4br said:

Here is a thread from this site that is about coccidia levels.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0ahUKEwjQytyMkNzJAhUCQD4KHehDA7EQFggpMAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.beardeddragon.org%2Fforums%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ff%3D45%26t%3D205962&usg=AFQjCNE09Rox15rwIusrUnPODqlE3EVKWQ&sig2=NC3FNBzUWtQ5Tlt-YoKnKA
I think your dragon has a moderate level right now but it may drop after she's more at home. Since she's doing well you might just let a couple months go by + have her re-tested. You might also p.m. Drache613 for her opinion.

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Hello, and thanks for the reply. Yes, I had read that thread, and the levels discussed were in a range of 1-4. I'm not sure if we are using the same scale, but the results show >30, so I became alarmed.

Lost all my info I just typed. Did you call the vet to have him explain the numbers?

DaisyDragon123":3gpw6wtn said:

Lost all my info I just typed. Did you call the vet to have him explain the numbers?

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I did but my main vet is out. I have spent a lot of time on the web trying to figure it out. I assume it's the number of ocysts present in a given area on a slide. They used a centrifuge float test. But I can't find any cross reference anywhere. So I don't know if >30 is 1 or 4+.