Yellow fungus?

My son’s dragon has developed some yellow spots on her head/eye/ beard. Her appetite also seems to have slowed quite a bit. She used to eat 10-12 crickets each feeding. Shw is down to about 5 and sometimes is not interested at all. She is still very alert, but never has been very active. We bought her July of 2017 and were told she was about 4 months old. So that would make her about 10 months but she’s still so small. I’ve just learned that we need to move her UVB light into the tank instead of tearing in the wire. I’m not sure what to do for her. Does she need to see a vet?

That's possibly an odd colored shed but the area around her ear especially looks dark and a bit crusty. I think it would be best to bring her to the vet and request a skin sample be tested for a fungal infection. If it is yellow fungus, it can be treated with a combination of topical antifungal meds and oral antifungal meds like Voriconizole. It can be treated but it's important to get treatment started early if it turns out to be a YF infection.

Oh I'm sorry, she does look very small for her age, actually a bit thin...Can you possibly take a photo of her enclosure that shows her lights and how they're set up? I think she has 2 different, separate issues going on here, one being a calcium deficiency and probably the start of Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD) due to inadequate UVB/UVA lighting (this makes her unable to absorb any of the calcium from her food or the powder), and then there is the yellow skin issue. What exact UVB light do you have (brand, wattage or strength, and then type, meaning is it a long tube, a compact bulb, a coil/spiral bulb, or is it a Mercury Vapor Bulb)? How old is the UVB light? And how far away in inches is the UVB light from her basking spot/platform?

As far as the yellow skin goes, it does look like Yellow Fungus in that it's all over her and the color looks to be Yellow Fungus, but I don't see any "scabbyness" or rough, dry skin where the yellow color is, usually with Yellow Fungus the skin is that same yellow color, but it looks like scabs. Has she shed recently? It could just be retained shed that didn't come off, and actually sometimes inappropriate or too-weak of a UVB/UVA light and improper temps can cause shedding issues too, so I'm going to wait for others to chime in on their opinions of the Yellow Skin. Have you tried bathing her and using a soft toothbrush to see if the yellow skin comes off? If not, you could certainly give that a try, be very gentle, let her soak for 5-10 minutes in the warm water (make it a bit warmer than usual but not hot), and then use a soft toothbrush to gently try to brush the yellow area off. Just try it on one spot and see what happens, if it doesn't come off at all then no need to stress her out by scrubbing all the other areas, just something to try because retained shed will usually come off. If it doesn't then you need to find a very experienced Reptile Specialist Vet, not an "exotics" vet, they tend to make things much worse. She needs to have a "Skin Scraping" test done, which will have to be sent out, this will confirm or rule-out Yellow Fungus, it's the only way to know for sure.

If she does have Yellow Fungus, it's very, very tough to treat because it grows both inside and externally, and only by giving them an oral Anti-Fungal medication long-term in conjunction with an external Anti-Fungal treatment will give her a chance. That's why I said not an "exotic" vet, but a very experienced Reptile Specialist that has treated Yellow Fungus in Bearded Dragons before.

Either way, she definitely is suffering from a Calcium Deficiency and MBD due to inadequate UVB lighting, or UVb lighting that is obstructed, too far away, or too old. Once we know what light you have and see your set-up we can definitely help you with that particular issue and get her appetite and energy levels back up, it's going to be extremely important to get this issue worked out immediately, because if she does have Yellow Fungus she needs to be as healthy as possible otherwise to have a chance of fighting the infection.

Hello,

It looks suspicious for yellow fungus, but maybe it's just old shed.
I agree, the only way to determine true yellow fungus is by having a skin scraping done for
a culture to see if it is yellow fungus, or some other type of condition.
Let us know the type/brand of UVB light you have so we can be sure it is all correct &
mounted properly.
How is he doing today?

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

Thank you all for your replies. She is not doing much better today. I got her to eat one super worm this morning but that’s it. She does not have any scabbing where it is yellow so I will definitely try the bath and the toothbrush. I definitely think her condition is a deficiency. The uvb light has never been properly mounted. We didn’t know. ? I am going out tomorrow to get proper mounting for it so it is inside the tank. It is a fluorescent tube. I can not remember what the wattage was. I don’t have the box anymore. It’s what the pet store told us would be appropriate. This is what it looks like exactly, with the plastic cover over the bulb. But I think ours was a different brand. I know now that thier information is useless. The light is only about 2 months old. How often does it need to be changed? Here is a picture of her tank. . The large double shade was what came with the tank. It used to house the basking bulb and a compact uvb. (Which I know now is also useless) it now houses the basking and a ceramic for night heat. The smaller one isn’t on there anymore. That was also a ceramic night lamp cuz the larger one burnt out. (It’s been replaced now tho)
I truly appreciate all the advice. I will make sure to keep a close eye on her. Anymore advice is very much appreciated especially if we still have the setup wrong.

Hello,

Can you look on the base of the tube UVB to see the brand, just so we know what it is?
The fixture looks fine though. You are going to try & mount it inside of the tank? That
will be helpful. Be sure it is directly overhead though to reduce eye strain & increase
the exposure of the UVB.
Mounting it right alongside of the basking light is correct, to where they overlap. It will
simulate sunlight better so it concentrates heat, light & UVB in one area. If you have a
T8 standard UVB, it's recommended to change them out every 5-6 months. The T5 UVB
tubes that are a higher output bulb, need to be changed at a year or year & a half. It
helps a lot if you have a UVB meter to test the output of them.
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

Aw, poor little sweetie. You made such a beautiful home for her and she's so sick. I'm 99.9% sure it's Y.F. and should have a skin scraping done. Some dragons may do well for a while but if not treated it's pretty much always fatal, and may be even with treatment. It's not always scabby at first either. Here are other pics of Y.F. from an article, note the dragon in the first pic with yellow around his vent.
http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Reptile-Health/Disease-Management/CANV-in-Reptiles/

As far as the UVB tube goes, did you say that yours has the clear cover over the tube? Have you removed it yet? If not, you need to remove it immediately because it's blocking 100% of the UVB light...and if it came with a plastic cover over the tube it's probably a Zilla Desert 50 UVB tube, which is pretty weak, so please, poke holes in the mesh and then just use Zip Ties, wire, twine, shoelaces, etc. to strap it to the underside of the mesh, AFTER you unscrew/remove the clear plastic cover. Then you're going to have to find a basking spot/platform that will put your dragon within at least 6" of that tube, because it's too weak a UVB tube for him to be any further away from it.

As Tracie said, investing about $50 or so on Amazon.com for a 22" Reptisun 10.0 T5HO UVB tube and a 24" tube fixture that is rated for a T5 tube (24 watts) and that has a reflector that comes inside it is going to be your best bet for him to recover from the MBD and stay healthy, plus you only have to replace the T5 tubes once a year versus every 6 months for the T8 tube like the one you have.

I agree with everyone, once again that yellow does look suspect, he needs to get to a Reptile Vet ASAP for a Skin-Scraping test and then if he does have Yellow Fungus he needs to get on the oral Voricozanole ASAP to have a chance of surviving it.

EDIT: I didn't see the tree you have on the Cool Side of the tank, once you get that cover off of the UVb tube and you get it mounted under the mesh, I'd switch out the tree and the hammock, as the tree will not only get him closer to the UVB tube, but it's also a solid basking surface that will absorb the heat much better than the hammock will.