Giardiasis and Coccidia

[beardiesrock123]

I posted a topic about this is infectious diseases but only got one reply, so I'm going to merge my two posts from that topic explaining everything and am putting this topic in ER and Health.

My beardie has been recently diagnosed with giardia and severe coccidia. I had him on medication but would like some tips on cleaning him and his viv and preventing getting the infection myself, I'd especially like to know how long giardia can survive on surfaces.

hank you for the help! All his stuff has been taken out already. The meds he'd been on for a week apparently were no help, and the vet was surprised he hasn't died yet. She's apparently more of a bird specialist than bearded dragon specialist, so I'm going to take him to a vet who's been working with beardies for their whole life. He may be okay, he's behaving fine and looks very healthy. He had diarrhea recently, that's when this started, but I read up and it could've been from the squash I introduced to him recently. His poop is pretty normal now, and he himself is 6 months old 18 1/2 inches. I'm hoping this other herp vet can help better. He hasn't shed a large amount in a while, however, and when he was younger, he usually shed 1-2x a month. I'm not exactly certain on his age so he could be a bitx older and almost done growing. I'm going to post this in the health section and ER too because the vet thought he'd be dead by now and I need some advice on the giardias.

 

[Beardednoob]

Bleach is the best disinfectant when it comes to giardia. When cleaning the enclosure and decor, use a 90% water and 10% bleach mixture, in very hot water. You yourself should wear rubber bathroom cleaning type gloves, and do your best not to cause splashing. Scrub the items well after letting them soak for a bit. Rinse until you cannot smell any bleach odors. It is best to use a paper towel or news paper substrate during this time as it can be thrown away and replaced with new very easily and cheap. I would clean the enclosure daily to every other day. The less decor you put back the better the process will be. Also consider that changing too much can cause stress on your dragon though, so make sure to put back some of the decor. Bath your dragon every 1-2 days, handle your dragon with gloves on (sucks I know). Always clean the bathing equipment with bleach mixture after every use.

Back to your safety though, do not come in direct contact with any of the decor or enclosure. Always use your gloves. Clean anything you cleaned the items in very well with very hot water and bleach after every time you clean the dragons items.

I am not an expert so this response should be considered but, there may be things I do not know or may have failed to include. I just wish you luck in this endeavor and hope for the best for you and your dragon.

 

[beardiesrock123]

Well, I have a lot to say in this post. First of all, I got my beardie's new UVB bulb in the mail yesterday because his old one came with the zilla desert fixture and after reading information on this site I realized the only UVB bulb perfect for beardies was the reptisun 10.0. Today, his appetite was a lot better (lately he'd seemed to only want crickets, no veggies) and his colors are brighter. Hopefully the better UVB will help him fight the diseases.
EDIT: To better explain, I knew the reptisun 10.0 was the best, but thought he could use the zilla for the normal 6 months. After about five, I was looking for a new one, and after research, discovered he needed the 10.0.

Second, I got some probiotic cricket dust from the vet that I have been giving him once a day with his last meal.

Third, I got a new prescription of just panicure (trying to knock out giardia because it's the worst disease he has) and the prescription is over now, but his poop has firmed up from smelly diahrrea to pretty normal.

Last, throughout the treatment period I cleaned his tank with the bleach solution and changed newspaper daily. Hopefully it's gone now, soon I'll send in a poop sample to the vet and find out. If not, I'll probably have to clean the tank out literally every day he's on medication. If the giardia is gone, then I can deal with his coccidia, which is high but nowhere near as bad as his levels of giardia.

 

[beardiesrock123]

GREAT NEWS DDDD!

He's giardia free! Also, the nemotoads he had are gone too! Now all I have to do is treat him for his levels of coccidia (which are apparently not very bad) and then I'll have a healthy beardie!