Beardie showing signs of yellow fungus

This is after I brushed for the second time using betaine to be cautious patting dry and then applying monistat. I'm very worried if someone could help me get ahold of the person who does the cheap testing?

It's much more clear now, def. something going on . It may be Y.F. or some other wound, if the person had a hot rock it could even have been from a burn. Do you know if there was ever a hotrock in the tank ? But , yes it also may be Y.F.

It's Tracie [ Drache613] that tests for Y.F. I'll p.m. her for you. For now, get some raw honey [ unpasteurized it is a powerful antimicrobial ] from a health store. It must be raw + unpasteurized. Put that all along the wound and then wrap with gauze. If you can't get him to sit still for the gauze, then just apply the honey as best you can. You can give him a small amount orally as well.

I now have many different chemicals many different medicines and many different options/guides in front of me. Can someone please give me a step by step on how I should care for my baby? I have the betadine, hibiclins, raw honey, monistat, and gauze needed I just need some sort of bible on how to do this.

I know nothing of previous conditions.

Yes, Tracie is Drache613 and she'll no doubt be quick getting the test kit out to you.

That looks very sore, and again it's most likely some type of fungal infection for sure, but there are a lot of different fungi that cause reptile infections, so keep our fingers crossed that it's not Yellow Fungus, but another fungi less invasive and hard to treat.

What you don't need is her to get a bacterial infection on top of the fungal infection, so I'd follow what AHBD said closely, you need to keep those wounds very clean with the Hibiclens or Betadine spot treatments, then pay it very dry very gently, then apply the raw, unpasteurized or Makuna honey (regular honey does nothing) diluted with warm water. Then wrap it up in clean, sterile gauze wrap, MAKE SURE THE GAUZE YOU BUY IS NON-STICK! You probably will want to buy a box of non-stick gauze squares that you can put over the big patches/lesions and then hold them on with the sterile gauze wrap. And I hope you completely disinfected her entire enclosure and everything inside it with bleach and hot water? If not then please do, now this is very, very important to do at least once a week for the foreseeable future, unfortunately. Most people who have beardies with Yellow Fungus and who are on a course of oral and topical antifungal medications have a lot of luck if they religiously disinfect the enclosure and everything in it at least once a week during the treatment, as it will keep her from reinfecting herself over and over again, and in addition right now with those open wounds you don't want a bacterial infection on top of everything else. That would be horrible. So clean paper towels in the bottom of the enclosure every single day and complete disinfecting of everything once a week. I know it's a pain in the ass but this is usually key to successfully treating any fungal infection or bacterial infection that is extremely contagious and extremely invasive.

I'm glad you're getting the test done, hopefully it will be negative for yellow fungus and will end up being a less invasive, less serious infection. But please be sure to let us know how the test ends up, and if it is Yellow Fungus then we will help you in any way we can, with both the treatment regiment and finding the correct meds cheaply. In the meantime I would keep doing what you're doing, NO BATHS AT ALL because all fungal infections love moisture and this will not end well. Just keep spot cleaning the lesions/patches with the antiseptic, dry it, then apply the raw, unpasteurized honey, and do this at least once a day, twice is better, until you get the test results.

By the way, I would say applying the raw, unpasteurized honey diluted with warm water twice a day, after you use the Hibiclens or Betadine to clean each spot (Seriously I would try the Hibiclens instead of Betadine, there's a reason that all hospitals and surgical suites in the US switched from using Betadine scrub packs for their surgeons to scrub in with and went to using strictly only the Hibiclens (chlorhexidine), it kills EVERYTHING, including not only bacteria but pretty much all types of fungi and viruses, Betadine does not). And you can buy Hibiclens at any Walmart or drugstore next to the Betadine.

Anyway, what I was going to say is that I recommend using the raw, unpasteurized honey each day on each spot of the infection instead of using any type of topical antifungal cream like you were. The reason is that if it is Yellow Fungus, there are pretty much no over the counter topical antifungal creams that are going to help anymore than the raw, unpasteurized honey will, and if it comes back a different type of fungal infection you'd have to be using the specific type of antifungal med that is effective against that particular fungal infection to do any good, and there are at least 10 different antifungal topical preparations available over the counter, but until the fungi is diagnosed, just using Lamisil or Monostat isn't most likely going to help, where the raw, unpasteurized honey will help with whatever it is, it may even help Yellow Fungus, I don't know of anyone who has used it topically on yellow fungus, but it seems to work against every other microbe. I know AHBD will agree with me on this one, lol.

What other home remedies can I try like the honey ? I'm about to do the spot clean and honey today should I attempt to rub anymore off with the tooth brush?

If you were able to actually scrub her [ VERY gently ] already then whatever was going to come off has probably come off for now. If this truly is Y.F, the skin will continue to slough off periodically but don't scrub anymore since it's sensitive. When you reapply the honey it should take some of the dead skin/scab naturally. You can still use betadine on the wounds or the hibiclens , [ but no soaking as Ellen mentioned ] let it dry a bit + then apply the honey. Do this every day. Another good thing about raw honey is that it doesn't cause the gauze to stick too much even if the wound has some oozing.

I truly wish the best for you + your dragon.

I'm sorry, I just wrote that last post and then I saw your post...okay, so you got the raw, unpasteurized honey and the Hibiclens, along with some sterile gauze. Awesome. Okay, so the key to doing this successfully is going to be #1) Cleanliness #2) Regiment and #3) Dryness. You have to keep the fungus, whatever type it is, but especially if it's Yellow Fungus, from constantly reinfecting your beardie over and over again, because that's exactly what fungus does, it basically tries to constantly feed on moisture so it can keep spreading and finding new hosts, in this case the host is your beardie sitting inside a tank. So if you haven't yet totally disinfected her entire enclosure both inside and out, top to bottom, and everything else inside the enclosure including all the decor, the light fixtures, the bulbs themselves, every single little thing that is touching her or her enclosure, then this is step #1. The best way to do this for the most part is by soaking everything that can in be soaked in the bathtub in a mixture of the hottest water you can get and either regular chlorine bleach (unscented, no fragrances) or in F10 disinfectant. The F10 usually has to be ordered online, so the bleach is probably the way to go, you can buy it by the gallon at Dollar Tree for $1, so I'd buy a couple of gallons of it. Just an FYI, hopefully you have a Dollar Tree near you because they sell sterile gauze, disposable gloves, and probably a host of other things you'll be needing to buy often, and everything is actually $1 at Dollar Tree. So I'd investigate that. Anyway, you want the hot water/bleach mixture to get into every little spot of the enclosure and decor, so obviously soaking everything you can in the bathtub (or in a large, plastic tub if you don't have a bathtub) is the easiest way. And if she has any decor that is wood, like a basking branch, that cannot be soaked in bleach or disinfectant, you should soak it in only very hot water for a while, then you can actually pre-heat your oven to 250 degrees, then place the wet wood decor right on the oven rack for about 30 minutes. This will kill everything on it and in it, and it won't trap any bleach or disinfectants inside the wood. You can also do this with any real rocks. Obviously you can't put anything plastic in the oven, lol, so those are the things you should soak in the hot water and bleach along with the enclosure itself. As far as the light fixtures, you'll need to spray them down or wipe them down with the hot water and bleach (unplug them first, lol), and try to get every little place in and on the light fixtures that you can. And then wipe down the bulbs as well, but do not get them very wet. After you soak the enclosure and all the decor in the hot water and bleach, drain the tub and then you'll have to rinse everything very, very well, until you can no longer smell any trace of bleach.

You'll need to do this to her enclosure and everything in it once a week in order to stay on top of the fungus spreading. It's going to be very, very important to get any poop or anything else that might get spilled or scattered inside the enclosure out of there ASAP, as she cannot afford to get any other infections or illnesses while she's fighting Yellow Fungus. Using clean, dry paper towels as the only substrate in the bottom of her enclosure is a must, that way you can remove any paper towels that get soiled right away and replace them. I would actually replace all the paper towels in the bottom of the tank as often as you can possibly afford to, again, Dollar Tree has mega double rolls of paper towels for $1. If you can change the paper towels out once a day that's great, once every other day, every two day, etc., as often as you can. But definitely replace them as soon as they become soiled by any poop, any food or dead insects, or any water. And you cannot keep any type of water bowl inside the enclosure either, that's if you do at all in the first place. If you are lucky enough to have a beardie who actually drinks regularly out of a bowl of water, you'll have to give her water by dripping it on her snout and letting her lick it up, then dry her off and the wet areas around her off. So completely disinfect the enclosure and everything in it once a week. This is very important, and sticking to a regular daily and weekly schedule is key to beating this thing. So if you haven't already done this, start here. SOMETHING TO REMEMBER IS THAT THE LESS CLUTTERED HER ENCLOSURE IS AND THE LESS "STUFF" IS INSIDE THE ENCLOSURE, THE LESS SURFACE AREA THERE IS FOR THE FUNGUS TO GROW ON, AND THE EASIER IT IS TO DISINFECT WEEKLY AND TO KEEP CLEAN AND DRY AT ALL TIMES. SO I WOULD REMOVE ANY UNNECESSARY DECOR LIKE FAKE PLANTS OR RANDOM LITTLE DECORATIVE ROCKS, ETC. UNTIL YOU BEAT THIS THING.

Okay, so that's your enclosure and equipment disinfecting, now on to your poor little beardie. As I said in my prior post, those patches/spots/lesions are now open, and the last thing she needs is a secondary bacterial infection in them. Typically with Yellow Fungus people will give the oral antifungal medications once daily, but they will do the topical treatments twice a day, once in the morning, usually after the dragon eats their breakfast (as to not stress them out before they have eaten), and once in the late afternoon/early evening after they eat their final meal of the day. Oh, by the way, you never want to leave food inside her enclosure for a long period of time, like greens/veggies or fruit, and be sure to look for all little bits of it throughout the tank and get them out of there. Since you don't know if she has Yellow Fungus or not at this point, but you do know she has some type of probably fungal infection and now has open wounds where the patches of fungus are, I would avoid using any of the topical, antifungal creams or sprays right now until you get the test results back with a definitive diagnosis, and I'd use only the raw, unpasteurized or Makuna honey as the sole topical medication. As I said in my prior post, this could be any one of a huge number of possible fungal infections, including Yellow Fungus, and until you know which one it is you have no way of knowing what topical antifungal medication is going to be effective against the particular fungal infection she has. Simply using Lamisil or Monistat as a general antifungal cream does not work, and at this point is futile. There are at least 10 or so available over-the-counter antifungal topical preparations that you can buy, each one effective against different fungal infections, so once you know what type of infection she has then you can come back here and research what particular topical antifungal medication has been most effective for people who have had bearded dragons with the same infection. In the meantime she needs a "broad-spectrum", for lack of a better word, antimicrobial that is known to be effective against most types of fungal infections, bacterial infections, and viral infections...and that is the raw, unpasteurized honey or Makuna honey. I was a skeptic about using this stuff as a "cure-all" like a lot of people have recently been doing, as I have a medical background and I tend to be more analytical, but I can't fight the fact that people are using raw, unpasteurized or Makuna Honey as a topical treatment against all strains of fungi, bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and seemingly every other microbe, and have been very successful in doing so. I haven't yet seen any data or reports from anyone who has used raw, unpasteurized honey as a topical treatment for Yellow Fungus in tandem with an oral antifungal medication, but I'm looking into that. For the time being, as I stated, I'd stick to using the Hibiclens as the daily, topical antiseptic and the raw, unpasteurized honey as the daily, topical medication until you get the results of the test.

So you'll want to do this twice a day, again once in the morning AFTER she eats her breakfast, and then again in the late afternoon/early evening AFTER she eats her final meal of the day. Try your best to make this work around her usual feeding schedule, you don't want to change too much in her routine and cause her any unnecessary stress, she needs to be as stress-free as possible. Right now though I'm assuming those open wounds are really sore, so doing the topical treatments may be very uncomfortable for her, and the last thing you want is for her to stop eating and start losing weight. So always let her eat first before doing the topical treatments, and always be as gentle as possible when using the antiseptic to clean the areas and when applying the diluted honey. And try to continually talk to her in a soft, gentle voice throughout everything that you do, some people will laugh at me for saying this and have laughed at me in the past for saying this, usually with the smart ass remark that "It's only a lizard, blah blah blah", but they'd be wrong. She knows your voice, you're her person, and any time she feels badly or has pain and is scared because she doesn't know what you're doing to her or why you're doing it, your familiar, reassuring voice is going to keep her calm and lessen the total stress that she's going to feel.

So you'll need to designate some little containers as being for the Hibiclens, and another for diluting the raw, unpasteurized honey with hot water. It's important to not dip a sterile cotton swab or a piece of gauze into the Hibiclens or the diluted honey, apply it to her skin, and then dip it in the mixture again, as that will contaminate the entire mix. So you can actually use regular old Q-tips to apply both the antiseptic and the honey, that way you can throw each one away after you use it once to apply the topical treatments to her and not have to worry about wasting a bunch of money, as once again you can buy a box of like 500 Q-tips at Dollar Tree for $1. Both the Hibiclens and the raw honey should be used sparingly, a little goes a long way, so I'd mix just a very tiny bit of of the honey right before using them, then dump any leftover and wash the containers in very hot water after each time you use them...again, the key here is Cleanliness.

*****Starting with the Hibiclens, it's a pink liquid and you need very, very little of it to simply cover each little area...YOU SHOULD NOT DILUTE THE HIBICLENS AT ALL. SIMPLY SQUIRT A VERY, VERY TINY AMOUNT OF THE HIBICLENS INTO A SEPARATE CONTAINER, THEN DIP A CLEAN Q-TIP IN THE HIBICLENS IN THE CONTAINER (DO NOT EVER DIP A Q-TIP DIRECTLY INTO THE BOTTLE OF HIBICLENS), AND ALLOW THE Q-TIP TO ABSORB THE HIBICLENS. THEN JUST USE THE Q-TIP TO LIGHTLY AND GENTLY DAB OR ROLL OVER AN INDIVIDUAL INFECTED AREA. YOU ONLY NEED TO ENSURE THAT THE ENTIRE PATCH/LESION/AREA HAS A LIGHT COAT OF THE HIBICLENS ON IT, THAT'S IT. NO NEED TO APPLY HIBICLENS TO THE SAME PATCH OR AREA MORE THAN ONCE, JUST MAKE SURE THAT THE ENTIRE EFFECTED AREA IS WET WITH THE HIBICLENS. THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO DO. THEN THROW THAT Q-TIP OUT, GET A NEW ONE, DIP IT IN THE HIBICLENS, AND MOVE ON TO THE NEXT AREA. REPEAT THIS UNTIL YOU COAT EACH INFECTED AREA WITH HIBICLENS, MAKING SURE THAT THE ENTIRE INFECTED AREA LOOKS WET WITH THE HIBICLENS. PLEASE BE SURE TO USE A NEW Q-TIP WITH EACH NEW INFECTED AREA YOU APPLY THE HIBICLENS TO, DO NOT DIP A USED Q-TIP BACK INTO THE HIBICLENS.

****Now Hibiclens acts as a antimicrobial for up to 24 hours once it is applied and rinsed off, SO YOU ONLY NEED TO APPLY THE HIBICLENS TO EACH INFECTED AREA ONCE A DAY. NO NEED TO DO IT AGAIN IN THE AFTERNOON OR EVENING, JUST APPLY IT EVERY MORNING. That's another nice thing about using the Hibiclens, you don't use nearly as much of it as you do Betadine. Once you are sure that you've coated each infected area or patch entirely with the Hibiclens, then you can simply soak a piece of sterile gauze in warm water and just gently pat each area with it. What you're trying to do here is to just rinse the residual Hibiclens off the top of where it was applied to, you don't have to rinse it completely off, and even if you do rinse it completely off the Hibiclens is still good for 24 hours, acting both as a cleansing agent for the infected areas and a protective barrier against most all microbes from getting into the wound for up to 24 hours. ***SO IF YOU APPLY THE UNDILUTED HIBICLENS ON EACH INFECTED AREA AROUND THE SAME TIME EACH MORNING, YOU ARE ESSENTIALLY MAKING IT VERY DIFFICULT IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE FOR MOST MICROBES TO REINFECT EACH AREA. THIS IS WHY THEY ARE NOW USING IT FOR SURGEONS TO SCRUB IN WITH, THEIR HANDS ARE ESSENTIALLY MICROBE-PROOFED FOR 24 HOURS AFTER WASHING WITH IT. After you dab each area with the Hibiclens, then dab each area with warm water, then very lightly pat each area dry, then move on to applying the raw, unpasteurized honey to each area.

You do need to dilute the raw honey in very warm or hot water in order to make it much easier to apply, and so it can cover the entire infected area. You'll want to use a new little container to diolute the honey in, and I believe that most people dilute it using a ratio of 1 part honey to 2 parts water. I know that some people do just apply the honey straight onto the skin without diluting it, I suppose you could try it each way and see what works best for you, either way you want to again, just like with the Hibiclens, use a new, clean Q-tip to apply the honey to each different infected patch, and make sure that you cover each entire infected area completely with the honey. This is going to act just like a topical antibiotic cream like Neosporin does, so obviously you do not want to rinse it off or pat it dry, just apply a very light, thin layer of it to each affected area. I FOUND WHEN I USED IT ON MYSELF THAT THE ADVANTAGE TO DILUTING THE RAW HONEY IN VERY WARM WATER WAS THAT THIS ALLOWED THE HONEY TO ACTUALLY ALMOST DRY, AND AS A RESULT MY SKIN WAS NOT AS STICKY AND HAD NO ACTUAL HONEY ON IT'S SURFACE. You can play around with this and see what works best for you and your beardie, the keys are ensuring you cover the entire infected area with the honey, and that you use a new, clean applicator for each infected area and each time you dip into the honey.

****You only need to actually cover or wrap the very large infected areas with the gauze, like the one on his tail in the photo, and any other large areas that cover a great portion of her skin. Obviously we didn't see every little spot of the infection that she has, but you can, and be sure to apply both the Hibiclens and the raw honey to each little area. The small areas will dry pretty quickly under her lights in her enclosure, while the very large areas will remain much wetter and stickier, and this is why you want to cover those areas with the gauze wrap the best you can. You need to use a non-stick gauze pad or non-stick gauze wrap on each area you're wrapping up, you don't want to wrap the large areas up with gauze that isn't non-stick and have any scabbing that develops pulled off. Since you scrubbed those areas with a brush they are going to scab over, which is good, and will make her much more comfortable when you're applying the Hibiclens and the honey, and just more comfortable in general. I would apply the raw honey twice daily, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon/early evening, but as I already said there is no need to apply the Hibiclens twice a day, once every morning is enough.

***I couldn't tell if she has any infected areas near her eyes or ears, but if she does, you absolutely must be extremely careful not to get any Hibiclens near her eyes or ears, as it is completely safe everywhere else, but if it gets into an eye or ear it can cause damage because it is active for 24 hours, and it can actually damage any mucous membranes or very thin membranes, like an eardrum, because it forms a protective antimicrobial layer on each surface that lasts for 24 hours, and this can stop the eyes from producing tears, and the eardrum from vibrating. So if she has any areas on her face I would not use the Hibiclens on them at all, and just apply the raw honey twice daily.

After the one that isn't betaine direct spot treatment pat dry. 1:1 diluted raw honey with water applied generously to all areas, and now all areas of the tail are covered as much as possible with gentle wrap gauze and a small blue strip of stick gauze on the outside to hold firm. He isn't messing with it and I did it right after feeding and allowing him to digest for about two hours. Now he will go to sleep all day while I'm at work. How often should I change dressing ? Should I try a small amount of tea tree mixed with honey? Or maybe colloidal silver? Any more adevice out there? Also does anyone know of a place that will take your lizard heal him up and return him home just out of good will? Some type of rescue ? He is looking better but if it progresses I don't want him to suffer for even moment. .

Good job ! BTW, honey doesn't need to be diluted in this type of situation, and if you ever need to dilute it, use warm but not hot water. Hot water can act as pasteurization which nullifies the antibacterial properties.

As for a rescue, you can search for one in your area but you'd really want to see exactly what kind of place it is and what their plan of action would be. Some rescues are overwhelmed with animals , even though well intended, others really aren't qualified to handle Y.F.

It would be great to have the test done + maybe be pleasantly surprised if it is not Y.F. after all.

I barely added any and it was warm. How often should I change it ? Should I brush the affected skin again in a day or so ? Is there anything else I can do ?

Oh, sorry I meant to say change it daily. No scrubbing, the bad skin will come off on it's own.

And that's great that he didn't mind your handling him to do such a good job on the wrap ! What a good boy.

Okay so once a day with the hy whatever's and twice with the honey. Dry the hy and wrap tail after applying honey change daily don't bath keep out fruit and water bowl I feed him reptiworms so I guess that should work out. His cage is depressing me I can't imagine how he feels.
Thanks for all the info and if anyone has any other ideas or knows for sure they can help me get the medicine cheap please contact me
Anyone else with any other additional info for a quick recover?

You did an awesome job! I know it's depressing but it's necessary just in case it is yellow fungus. But as AHBD already mentioned, you won't know until you get the test results back, so try to stay positive about it, hopefully it's not Yellow Fungus, and if it is you'll have a big jump on his treatment and you'll be ahead of the curve. Most people aren't, they do nothing until they finally get the test done, and by then it's so far gone internally that they cannot do much about it.

Hopefully you've got the test kit coming to you soon, and by the time you get the results, even if it is Yellow Fungus you'll already know and will have been doing all the needed disinfecting and topical treatment stuff, the only thing that will change at that point if he does have it is you'll need to add a daily oral medication and probably a different topical antifungal med.

DO NOT USE TEA TREE OIL!!!! It's actually poisonous to most animals, particularly birds and reptiles. I know someone who used it on their beardie's tail rot and he died within 3 days of using it, and the vets couldn't figure out what was going on until my friend brought in a plastic tub with every supplement, food, and medicine he had ever used on his beardie, but by the time they caught it it was too late. So no tea tree oil.

The colloidal silver can possibly be helpful, but you first need to know what is causing his infection. It isn't very effective at treating yellow fungus from what I've seen, but it can actually cause some fungal infections to spread just like water can, so I'd hold off on using it until you get the test results back. I've seen several people with beardies that have Yellow Fungus use it as part of the topical treatment, but just like most all topical treatments it doesn't do much to treat Yellow Fungus. The bottom line to that is the correct oral meds...

Most all rescues will not give the animal back to you or treat it for free unfortunately. I only mentioned surrendering her to a reptile rescue if you get into the situation where she does definitely have Yellow Fungus and needs oral medications to treat it long-term and you cannot afford the necessary medications. The reason I mentioned it at all is because if it is Yellow Fungus you won't have a choice but to get her the proper combination of prescription oral meds in order to treat it, so if it gets down to that point you do have that option to help her.

Some reptile rescues are very small and run by a private individual (s) and would refuse to take a dragon with Yellow Fungus because they don't have the funds to treat it. And then some reptile or exotics rescues are larger and have government funding, large donations, and have arrangements set up with specialty vets and animal hospitals, like the one I volunteer at. We take dragons with Yellow Fungus and we get them started on the proper treatment regiment, just like you're starting to do now plus getting them on the oral meds and possibly injections and supplements if necessary, and we'll keep them until there the infection is completely gone and proven to be gone for at least a few months, as it has a habit of disappearing for a while and then popping up again. But I don't know of any sort of organization that will treat one for free and give them back...But don't worry about that yet, wait until you get the test results back and go from there.

I've honestly seen several dragons who everyone on this forum was sure had Yellow Fungus based on their external lesions and scabby, yellow patches, and it turned out they had either a different fungal infection or some other weird skin condition that was very easily treated. And there was a member not long ago who successfully treated his beardie who was diagnosed with Yellow Fungus, it took many months of the correct daily oral medication, like he'd give him the medication daily for 2 months and then take a month off from the oral meds and did just topical treatments, then the next month started the daily oral medication again, etc. And he had posted not long ago that his dragon had been totally clear and fine for a year now. I'm going to try and find his post for you so you can look at what worked for him and maybe talk to him.