Dark fungus identification and treatment help [pics]

My beardie Nero has dark (some nearly black) spots on various areas of her body. I noticed one or two individual scales being dark like this about a month ago, but I did not think it was anything to worry about. About 2 weeks ago the spots started spreading to other areas and grew larger. I assume this is a fungal infection so we began the treatment options I found on other posts in this forum. This includes a daily betadine bath (very dilute, light tea colored), spot treatment with dilute tea tree oil, and rubbing lamisil on her entire body. I also give oral acidophilus probiotic almost daily. She laid infertile eggs about two months ago, I am unsure if that could have stressed her out and caused her to be more prone to infection. We moved her from a 40 gallon tank to a larger 72 gallon tank about three weeks before the fungus grew larger (note that the earliest I noticed darkened scales was before this tank switch). We sanitized everything with bleach and steam. Her tank stays under 30% humidity. The pictures below are from today, about 2 weeks of treatment. The first show the most severe spot on her right arm. The other pics show both hind legs. That is most of the visible fungus but there is a small spot on her underbelly as well. The other arm had a big spot too but it fell off completely once she had shed (mostly finished with her shed now, all the pics show areas that have already shed). The spots have gotten slightly more red (possibly scabbing over) and they seem to have gotten slightly smaller since the initial flare up. Can anyone tell me what type of infection this looks like? Does my treatment regimen seem appropriate and are the spots expected to scab over and fall off if the treatment is successful? I read on another forum that coconut oil can be helpful too, any opinions on this? I am a little concerned as she has not eaten much at all for the past few weeks. Her weight has not dropped much and she is over 500 grams (17 inches in length, about 3 years old). Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Hi there...it doesn't really look like any fungus I've seen, most of those spots actually look like a bit of unshed skin. Aside from what you're doing, I'd try raw honey over + above all other treatments. It's a natural antimicrobial + inhibits bacterial growth. Give it a try + see what happens. But I don't think that's going to be serious. Best wishes to the big girl.

I would take her to an exotic vet just to be on the safe side. I would imagine there are different types of fungal infections, some worse than others, and the vet could do a closer inspection to see if a biopsy was needed to determine if there is a fungal infection. If needed, the biopsy will let you know what you are dealing with and the vet will advise you on an appropriate course of treatment.

Thanks for the input! I have rubbed a small layer of coconut oil on her spots for the last two days and the scales have cleared up almost completely! Is this what retained shed can look like? I would definitely say it is not a fungus now like you said. If anyone else's dragon has the same dark scales then coconut oil is pretty amazing at clearing it up! Her scales appear to be unharmed underneath

Can you post some updated pictures. One of my dragons has similar spots.

DaisyDragon123":tf4jn0tw said:

Can you post some updated pictures. One of my dragons has similar spots.

Click to expand...

Here are pics of Nero from today. His colors were a little dark when I took them because he was warming up. His left arm is completely clear and his right arm is getting better (it was the worst spot). I think its a scab that will fall off leaving the scales underneath unharmed. His back legs are almost completely clear too.

Looks much better !