Dino's YF... Rest Easy my Lil' Friend :'(

[dragonlover3]

Hi Sue,
The poor girl. I hate to say it but I think most of it does look like fungus but I'm not sure about the red spot and red lumpy spot. I have only seen the fungus mine had and photos on line. Maybe someone else will speak to the red/pink spots. The fungus will need aggressive extended treatments. I believe for my 2 dragons that had fungus, aggressively following the treatments suggested by the members here who treated it and were successful, with the addition of the treatment my vet ordered, along with some natural and holistic remedies and supplements helped make my dragons fungus free with 2 heavy med sheds and 9 weeks of alternating daily soaks solutions and alternating topical antifungals twice a day that made them sicker before they got well. I read every thread I could find on yellow fungus and documented the fungus treatments I did for my dragons on my thread if you want a look. Most have some common denominators which, to me, mean those are tried and true. I'd start aggressively treating her for fungus now and know it will take some time to see improvement. What I did was successful, what some others did was successful, you can be too! I hope vet #2 can offer some help.
Hugs!
Amanda

 

[SpikesAgirl]

Thanks ladies for your input. I know fighting this thing is not going to be easy. My son was so sad when we thought we were going to lose her (so was I), I'll do what ever it takes to get her healthy. I will be checking out your threads & posts on what you did when you were struggling with it. I'm surprised there aren't more posts about it. I know it's a known threat to dragons, just thought more people would've actually dealt with it. Most people don't have to deal with mites either, which is what started this whole damn problem!! Well, on the upside, she is breathing normally. At least that problem is under control...for now. I hope that doesn't start up again. That was AWFUL watching her not being able to breathe. I'll let you know how it goes with vet #2. Going to have to set up an evening appt this week, they are located a little further away than vet #1 so daytime appts are out. The last one I had with them I lost about 3 hours of work. I had to bring her to work with me to save some time! LOL! Big Boss didn't appreciate that very much. Thank goodness she didn't PEWP while she was in the office! HA! Imagine?! Anyway... Thanks again! Talk soon!

@Lisa- I can see the scarring on Sythe in that photo... he was still a handsome boy though! Thanks for sharing!

Thought I posted a tail spot pic...missed that I guess.

 

[SpikesAgirl]

Okay guys, here goes. I had an appt for Dino and I cancelled it. I don't need the vet to tell me she has Yellow Fungus. I KNOW she has it. We all KNOW she has it. I think I just needed to admit to MYSELF that she HAS it. "Hi. My name is Sue and my beardie has Yellow Fungus." Ok, Step One: Admitting I have a problem. Done! So, I've been researching the product Reptaid... I ordered some. Gonna give it a try for the fungus. There's a whole big thread on here about it. So, I e-mailed Elliot. I spoke with him on the phone. He has 2 people (I know, not a lot of case scenarios) that have used it successfully to treat yellow fungus, one of whom is located in South Africa. I think I'm gonna go with a holistic approach to this. Using Reptaid to treat it will take a long time, but I think the antibiotics and meds are just too much for her. The best thing to use medically for the fungus, I believe I've read, is Intraconazole and that almost killed her. I partially read another thread that talked about that med killing their dragon and the vet regretted prescribing it. I think the antibiotics could have caused the fungul problem. Although it was never confirmed that the pneumonia she had/has was fungul or not, this is what I think. Thoughts please...

Hugs,

Sue

 

[Kalyn876]

Hey Sue, I do agree it really does look like yellow fungus. I'm all for holistic approaches as I think your also right about the itraconozole being too harsh for her already weakened system. Are you also going to continue betadine baths and topical cream?

It takes a lot out of a person to nurse any living creature back to health, you are doing an amazing job! Make sure you find time for yourself amid the chaos

 

[SpikesAgirl]

Hi Kalyn,
She was near death on the intraconazole. We probably stopped it in the nick of time... Another day and I think she would've been gone. I am continuing the daily betadine baths. I stopped the topical cream when we stopped the intraconazole per vet #1. When I get the Reptaid, she will take that orally, bathe in it and get it applied topically after the bath to all affected areas. I will keep her on probiotics too while she is being treated with that. It really has been a lot or work and worry trying to get her healthy again. Not to mention the money I've spent at the vet...UGH! Hopefully this treatment will do the trick, although I know it's going to take a LOOOONNNNGG TIME to fix it. Elliot already told me that. I'm feeling better about this stuff where it is used a lot in reptiles. I really don't think the vets know what to do with reptiles. I think a lot of it is guessing and trial and error that sometimes ends up with a dead animal. So, that's where we are right now. Just waiting for the stuff to come in the mail. I'll keep you all posted on her progress as always!

Hugs,

Sue

 

[AHBD]

Hi Sue, I hope your poor girl can battle through this, I'm glad you quit the harsh med. I think on page 7,Happidragon posted that she had success using the cream, I think it would be good to keep up with that even more so than the baths. The cream stays on and works longer and is shown to have success in some cases. Oh, and it's great that she's eating, too.

 

[SpikesAgirl]

Hi AHBD,
I am thinking of getting some antifungal cream and watering it down a little to spray it all over her. I just haven't had a minute to go get it! I did see HappiDragons post. Dino's got this stuff so spread all over that a cream is very difficult to 'spot treat', I thinks it was Happi who also said the sprays were too cold for them...brrr! So I'm thinking watering the cream down with warm water to mist on her might offer some relief. Gonna try a bunch of things! She is eating everyday, twice a day. Not too worried so as long as her appetite keeps up! I have critical care here too that I give her once a week for a little boost. She seems fine, her breathing is normal finally. She just looks awful with the Creepin' Crud she has now. x( Thanks for your thoughts! I appreciate them all sooooo much!

Hugs,

Sue

 

[SpikesAgirl]

Hey All! I think I have good news... Dino is going through a shed and after the yellow skin comes off of her belly, it's WHITE underneath! Some of her head shed came off and it's a nice orangey, brown underneath-her normal color! That's good, right???? The only thing I've been doing to her is giving her Betadine baths, squirting her head and neck area with a syringe filled with the betadine bath water and giving her BeneBac. I bought some Lotrimin and put that on her real dark spots tonight (tail, front foot, back toes). I have the Reptaid XL. I haven't started her on it yet though, I'm waiting for Elliot to get back to me on how to treat her with it. The XL is for larger reptiles (250 grams or more) but this is what he said to purchase to treat the fungus. He's on vacation and I don't want to keep bugging him. :| I sent him a text to let him know I received it. No reply. Gonna send him an e-mail after this post. Dino is eating and drinking normally. Going to the bathroom normally. Breathing normally. She's on her way to being healthy again! YAY!
Just another thing to add: After I switched her UVB to the Reptisun 10.0 using the Reptisun fixture, she was hiding under her papertowels from it! I switched the bulb to the 5.0. She seems better with that. She has done that before-hid from her lights. I think when I replaced a bulb with a mercury vapor bulb, she was hiding under her cage carpet for WEEKS. I had no clue what the problem was until I sent her off for boarding and they reported that she was acting normally when the lights were shut off for a bit during the day. The house they keep their animals in is so hot (it was during the summer & no A/C in there) that they cycled the lights every couple of hours or something. Anyway, that's the status right now! Hope you and all of your scaly babies are doing well!

Hugs,

Sue

 

[kcarello]

What wonderful news!!!! I am so happy to hear that Dino is doing so much better!!!
I have a question, and I am sure the answer is somewhere in the pages of post, but I am to tired to try to find it. The Reptisun 10.0 UVB light you had was a tube type light...right?? I didn't know they made a 5.0 UVB light in a tube....I am just wondering if someone went over the lighting issure with you...surely they have.
Anyway, congratulations on all your hard work, sounds like it is starting to pay off!!
Hope she continues to improve!
Kelly

 

[SpikesAgirl]

Hi Kelly,

Yup, tube type bulb. I had heard that the coil bulbs were not good so, I had a Zilla tube for her. I was informed here that those can do more harm than good too, so I switched to the Reptisun 10.0 and she started hiding under her paper towels and her ramp so I switched to the 5.0. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but it's a Reptisun so I figured I'd try it. She's staying out of hiding so far... I'm hoping she'll continue to get better tooooo! Thanks for checking in on us!

Hugs,

Sue

 

[kcarello]

That is very odd. I will see if Tracie has any thoughts on her lighting. It is my understanding that the 10.0 and the Arcadia 12% are the only ones that put out enough UVB to keep them healthy. Do you have you bright basking light right next to the UVB light?
I'll see what I can find out. Is Dino still doing better this morning?? What a trooper she is!!!
Kelly

 

[SpikesAgirl]

I agree Kelly, strange that she's hiding from the 10.0. She never hid from the Zilla tube. She does have a basking bulb also, a 75 watt. A night heat emitter too. That darn tank is so small there's barely enough room to put everything on top of it! She's still not ready to move back into her "big house" yet, especially with the fungus. Sanitizing a 75 gallon tank everyday would be quite the chore. She stays in the 29 for now. I feel like she doesn't get any exercise. I let her swim for a long time during her baths though. Thanks for inquiring about the lighting with Tracie. I appreciate your concern for Dino! <3

Hugs,

Sue

 

[kcarello]

Poor little girl probably hasn't needed much exercise,,using all her energy to fight off all this stuff she has been going through! I don't blame you for having her in a smaller tank for now.
How is your Aunt doing? Weren't you having to go to the hospital alot for her? Hopefully she is doing better too. Gonna go check on the light thing now.
Take care and give Dino a little rub from me!
Kelly

 

[HappiDragon]

Yay! Yes! White underneath is good! That will be a scar but its a good sign Sue! Your dedication and hard work is paying off! do you have a pic of it? Would love to see! Sooooo glad she's starting to feel better!

 

[dragonlover3]

Hey All! I think I have good news... Dino is going through a shed and after the yellow skin comes off of her belly, it's WHITE underneath! Some of her head shed came off and it's a nice orangey, brown underneath-her normal color! That's good, right???? The only thing I've been doing to her is giving her Betadine baths, squirting her head and neck area with a syringe filled with the betadine bath water and giving her BeneBac. I bought some Lotrimin and put that on her real dark spots tonight (tail, front foot, back toes). I have the Reptaid XL. I haven't started her on it yet though, I'm waiting for Elliot to get back to me on how to treat her with it. The XL is for larger reptiles (250 grams or more) but this is what he said to purchase to treat the fungus. He's on vacation and I don't want to keep bugging him. :| I sent him a text to let him know I received it. No reply. Gonna send him an e-mail after this post. Dino is eating and drinking normally. Going to the bathroom normally. Breathing normally. She's on her way to being healthy again! YAY!
Just another thing to add: After I switched her UVB to the Reptisun 10.0 using the Reptisun fixture, she was hiding under her papertowels from it! I switched the bulb to the 5.0. She seems better with that. She has done that before-hid from her lights. I think when I replaced a bulb with a mercury vapor bulb, she was hiding under her cage carpet for WEEKS. I had no clue what the problem was until I sent her off for boarding and they reported that she was acting normally when the lights were shut off for a bit during the day. The house they keep their animals in is so hot (it was during the summer & no A/C in there) that they cycled the lights every couple of hours or something. Anyway, that's the status right now! Hope you and all of your scaly babies are doing well!

Hugs,

Sue

OH SUE, THAT IS JUST GREAT NEWS ON THE SHEDDING! .......yes I'm shouting it :lol:

Since her hospital tank is so small could the 75 watt bulb be just to much heat? It almost seems like it would be too hot. I'm wondering if there is cool side since the tank is small and the light is 75 watts. I forgot what you measure temps with. 3 of mine are in 40 gal reptile and 1 in a 55 gal aq. and I only need 60 watts to keep their basking spots dead on. Just a thought but she would hide if it was to hot....plus she can't be to comfortable with that fungus and maybe the heat is causing some more discomfort making her want to hide.... just a thought.
I'm so happy to hear she's shedding that crud off her head and the yellow off her little body....awesome!
Amanda