Serious Skin Problem

[TheRaders]

Rusty has been with us about a year now. My husband bought him at Petsmart as a baby.

Recently, we noticed his belly was turning yellow and he had a black scab inbetween his back legs. After picking at it with my fingernail, I realized it was raw underneath. We immediately took Rusty to the vet who took skin samples. After googling, I read about yellow fungus which the vet agreed the problem might be. The lab results came back negative for fungus. None-the-less, everyday we gave him salt baths, antibiotics, and a fungal liquid medicine. I also put neosporin on his wound. It's been a few months now and the wound had healed, but a bigger scab has taken its place and the yellowing is getting worse. The weird thing is it's not really like a scab, it's like a bumpy patch of dead skin with raw skin underneath. It doesn't seem to bother him and he's either laying on his fake log or running after crickets...

Can someone please help us? I can't see Rusty like this anymore and vets don't know what to tell us. His skin literally looks like it's deteriorating. I feel so helpless...

 

[Beardednoob]

There have been a few other cases of YF, please use the search feature to locate them and read through them.
Anti fungal medications such as lamasil or the like can be used. Altering the enclosure to decrease risks is also necessary to help fight and treat this condition.

Can you post a picture of the enclosure with details please.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Oh my, that is very severe!
First off, what type of oral antifungal medication was given? What was the dose? How long was it given?
Was antifungal cream given as well? Cream definitely needs to be used along with the oral medication too, faithfully to beat this.

I recommend beginning another regime of daily baths with diluted betadine in it to clean the skin. Then, use lamisil or monistat on the affected skin areas. This must be done every day. There is a silver cream called thermazene (generic) that is very helpful for skin lesions & fungus.
Give probiotics such as non dairy soy yogurt, or acidophiliz to help balance out the bacteria in his body. Eliminate all sugars from his diet to help cut down on excess yeast build up.

This should get you started. You need an aggressive approach to get this to stop spreading.

Tracie

 

[TheRaders]

The antibiotic Baytril was given orally once a day, and the fungal lotion was called Conzol which I rubbed all over his belly twice a day after a salt bath.
I did buy some Lamasil spray but he only thrashed when that was applied, so I just did the other 2 medicines.

Could this still be a fungas even though the culture from the lab came back negative?

 

[spikerocks]

Although I personally have never dealt with fungus on any of my six beardies (thankfully!), I just wanted to mention that Tracie (drache613) is extremely knowledgable and has helped myself and many others on this site. I would follow her instructions exactly and go from there.

Sometimes, unfortunately you can get an inaccurate test result for many reasons. None of the recommendations will harm your beardie so there is really no harm in trying them. Also, the lamisil spray, in particular will have a tendency to burn the wounds were the topical cream will not.

Please keep us posted on his progress.

 

[TheRaders]

Thanks spikerocks, Traci does sound very knowledgable!
I was just worried that when his medicine wasn't working, and the lab said it wasn't a fungus, that maybe someone on here would recognize it as something else.

Thanks for the great info, Traci! The husband and I are off to the store. I'll definately try Monistat this time since he acted like the Lamasil burned a little.

I can't stand the thought of picking that scab off, but I don't know what else to do with it. The vet took it off last time and I kept putting Neosporin on it till it healed.
Does he need it wrapped or anything until it heals?

Thanks again, Traci!

 

[AtlasStrike]

Fungus likes moisture. Reduce the neosporin applications to once every two days only on the raw/open parts to prevent a secondary bacterial infection and don't cover it. The more air circulation the better. The lamisil spray is alcohol based, which is why it irritated him. The cream is much better. Betadine baths are good. There is also a product called fungesol which may be worth looking in to. I don't know how it would work for reptiles, but it was great for my horses when we had a mystery fungal outbreak.

 

[gzambran]

My beardie also got yellow fungus, although not as severe as yours. Interestingly, my beardie's skin biopsy (histopathology and culture) came back negative as well. I am pretty sure this was because I was treating the area with hydrogen peroxide and chlorhexadine so that may have killed the fungal spores. While it is hard to say a definitive diagnosis with a negative culture, yellow fungus is very common and has a unique appearance. Topical skin treatments with betadine or chlorhexadine/Nolvasan will kill bacteria too, so even if it is a bacterial infection that just looks like yellow fungus, it should help. Betadine soaks are the most effective treatment- dillute the betadine with water until it is tea-colored and soak your dragon in it for 10-15 mins every day. I used a large tupperwear container as my beardie's "bath tub" because filling a real bathtub or sink would take a lot of betadine and it runs about $12/ 10-ounce bottle. I honestly had more luck with betadine than lamisil or even prescription ketaconazole. Yellow fungus is very persistent, I have been doing skin treatments on my little guy for almost a year now... his skin improved greatly, especially after we switched from chlorhexadine to betadine. Witch hazel also helps clear up their skin and promote shedding of dead/infected skin, although I would not try that on your dragon until the open sores heal because witch hazel is astringent and can sting on open lesions. Also remember that fungal spores are everywhere! Clean your dragon's vivarium and all dishes/accessories with the betadine solution or chlorhex. Dilute bleach can be used, but the fumes are bad and it can irritate sensitive skin, so I would not recommend that. I washed down all of my beardie's vivarium and all "furniture" twice weekly and that was sufficient to prevent re-infection. Yellow fungus is contagious, so if you have any other reptiles, do not allow contact, do not share equipment/decorations, and be sure thoroughly wash /sanitize your hands in between handling. If the topical treatments do not improve your dragon's skin within a month, I would go back to the vet and ask about systemic antifungals. Unfortunately, systemic meds are very hard on the GI tract and are expensive. Good luck with the topical treatments!

 

[TheRaders]

Thank you for the tip, AtlasStrike! I will definately do the neosporin once every two days. We did take the black scab looking thing off with a small pair of scissors...to be honest it just looked like dead skin and not a scab, so we just removed it thinking that it rubbing would hurt more than taking it off. I then applied a thin layer of neosporin after a betadine bath yesterday, and then coated him with Monistat cream.

Thank you for posting also, gzambran! Your post is very helpful since it seems you've been through this once before, and also had negative results. I usually put him in the sink since he is always persistantly trying to escape...small bowls are too easy for him to climb out, but I didn't think about the betadine dialuting too much. I may just have to find a tuperware and keep a close eye on him.
And don't worry, I washed the sink and my hands completely after touching him. I did hear it was contagious. The husband re-cleaned his cage again yesterday and washed everything he touches with soap and water, I'm too scared to use bleach so I agree with your comment. I'll make sure he keeps cleaning it twice a week. Hopefully it doesn't come down to the oral meds, I have heard those are hard on their little systems. Thank you for the help!

Thanks everyone for caring about our little one. Hopefully Rusty can finally beat this thing. He sure does hate having cream all over him, and he hangs his head for awhile after all the treatments, but we gave him crickets yesterday about 15 mins after cleaning him and he chased them all down so at least he is still in good spirits.

 

[dragonlover3]

Awww, poor boy! That looks just awful!
All good wishes to you and Rusty! I hope
he does well and recovers!
Amanda

 

[TheRaders]

Thank you Amanda!

 

[PumpkinJelly]

Aw! Poor Rusty! It really travelled up all around him! He really is a trooper for hanging in there with a brave face through it all! Im sorry I cant give any advice since ive never dealt with fungus treatments. i wish you luck in helping Rusty! He's so cute! Hang in there buddy, help is on the way!

 

[dragonlover3]

Any update on Rusty? Thinking of him and wondering how he's doing?
Amanda