Coccidia

[Sneakers81]

Hello,
We went to an exotic vet today for the first time. My little guy is Spike and he is almost 3 months old. All my other pets have had the same vet for years but I wanted to make sure I took Spike to an exotic vet. The past couple of days he has been wanting to eat less and less. His stools were soft but still formed. There was an odor though. We have had him about 2 weeks when I decided I should make a well visit for him. In total we have had him a month and a week today when we took him to his well visit. I kinda have a problem trusting new doctors and with covid the lack of interaction makes it very hard to have that personal relationship with a new doctor. He seemed knowledgeable, good ratings, and showed me pictures from the slides that confirmed Coccidia. They prescribed Albon 5%. I gave my dragon his first dose and I feel like it is sucking the life out of him. He went from his happy go lucky dragon self to this fragile little blob who doesn’t want to be put down. I mean at 2 I had this happy dragon getting a checkup and by 6 I had this very tired sad eyed looking boy. Thank goodness I have Small horned worms right now. He ate one and perked up a bit from the water I’m guessing . Is it normal to feel like I’m poisoning him? If he continues to look like he feels horrible after I administer this medication at what point Do I discontinue? I mean maybe I got him to the vet before things got really bad, but he was such a spunky loving little guy and then I got him back from the well visit and he just looks awful. Is this how this treatment goes?

[/img][/img]. Does any one have a recommendation for a probiotic?
The vet did not recommend a probiotic.

 

[KarrieRee]

You pics did not post -- please repost them-- you need to click on the pic in your downloads let page refresh then check to see if they post --- Tracie and AHBD will need to answer your questions about the medication -- it seems he is awful young to have coccidia --
Karrie

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, Albon is a sulfa drug that is very harsh on beardies and especially young ones. Many owners + breeders will not medicate smaller dragons at all. Ponazuril is used by many vets now, it often works in 2 doses and is much less harsh. BTW, if your beardie is going to shed that will often affect the appetite so that might be the reason he was eating less to begin with. How much did he normally eat and how much was he eating when you decided on a vet visit ?

 

[KarrieRee]

I would request this medication if he truely has the coccidia -- Ponazuril --
Karrie

 

[Sneakers81]

 

[Sneakers81]

 

[Sneakers81]

 

[Sneakers81]

We finished a full body shed about a week ago so I don’t believe we should be shedding right now. We had finally improved in our eating. We were up to a mixture of crickets/ Dubia around 20-30 bugs a feeding. His morning feeding was strictly small Dubia and he would happily take down around 25 in the morning. I would say starting Saturday he started to have less interest in food and our feedings were dipping down to about 10-15 a feeding and he refused his dinner for Sunday and Monday night. He was closing one eye and had begun glass surfing a lot more. Now I don’t know if the glass surfing was from a parasite or because he is really getting used to being taken out. We live where it is very warm and he has a little mesh tent and enjoys going out poolside with us. I saw enjoy because he runs and jumps around like a mad man lol. This morning he seems perky but I have not administered another dose yet. I do not have another tank. We got home around 5:30pm yesterday so I was waiting till today to go and deep clean everything!! My son can take him outside in his tent till I’m done cleaning. I know I need to clean but I also read I need to limit stress. He does not like us to move things around some after a couple of hours of deep cleaning I’m hoping to house him back in his own tank. Any recommendations on cleaning grapevine? He is in love with this log.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, he looks good, healthy and well fed there. Their appetite can fluctuate, so everything sounds normal except his reaction to the Albon, how many more doses does he have left ? . I agree that he'd be better off taking Ponazuril. Did the vet say what the coccidia count was ? Low counts don't need to be treated. I wouldn't be worried about the grapevine unless he poos on it.

 

[Sneakers81]

The grapevine is sacred to him and gets no poop lol. All the poop happens on the hammock. I’m Going to call the vet back and ask for counts right now. They gave me a grading but not a count. I have not administered the Albon again yet because he got it at like 4 yesterday. I’m trying to figure out the best time to administer it. Does any one use bene bac as a probiotic? Even if I take him off the medicine I was thinking a probiotic would help his body to fight away the high counts more efficiently.

 

[KarrieRee]

Visit this website -- its Tracie websites shes our vet moderator
https://bug-de-lite.com/
Shes got Ben Bac on her website --
Your lighting in the tank is going to help keep those parasites away or under control along w/ basking temps-- what are you using for a UVB?
Karrie

 

[Sneakers81]

I have a t5 10.0 repti sun mounted on top of wire mesh. My basking bulb is 100w

 

[KarrieRee]

How many inches from basking decor of uvb? It should be 8-10 when on top of screen
Karrie

 

[Sneakers81]

Sorry I was finishing boiling and baking everything in his cage! He is around 10-12 from the uvb. I’m going to re arrange to get him closer. Can I keep his wood in the cage ? Or should I scale down for treatment? Tank you for the vet page! Everything is boiled or ammonia and boiled . I feel like taking too much out of his cage may stress him. Also, he is upstairs in my sons room and he is not up there much. We had considered moving him down stairs since he had been glass surfing and we are taking him out so frequently. He would be in our family room so it wouldn’t be too crazy but my boys play video games in there.

 

[Sneakers81]

His enclosure is 36hx18dx16h. I could just put the t5 on the wire mesh instead of elevating it 2 inches the way I have it now