Someone tell me this isn't yellow fungus UPDATE with pics

[Kristiina218]

Hi everyone, I'm Kristiina and I was a member of this forum years ago but I've been gone for quite some time. I recently picked up this baby girl and her name is Zeta. When I saw this on her eye, I assumed she'd been scratched by a tank mate and that may still be the case, but I'm paranoid. I know it looks yellowish in the pic, but my phone camera makes everything yellow so it's very deceiving. The area is not actually discoloured but just abut darker than her normal skin. I've gotten some of the scab off and there's no bleeding or open sore and it doesn't seem to bother her. I've only had her since the 23rd of January. She's very alert and a great eater. I'm a veteran beardie keeper so my set up is good. She's got a brand new 24" reptisun 10.0 and her basking area is 100-105. Paper towel substrate.

I just lost my beloved 6 year old dragon and will be devastated for a long time to come. I really hope this is just a scab on baby Zeta, but I wanted some opinions.

Thank you, everyone.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there.....it's really too hard to see anything abnormal there, especially since it's the lower lid. It looks slightly wet....can you get a few more pics of it ? If there is any type of scab that looks irritated at all you can apply raw honey [ from health food store ] Mix it with 3 parts warm water + apply with a Q-tip. It can be used directly on the eye, it's a very effective antimicrobial. Hopefully it is just a scratch + your baby Zeta will be fine. I like the name.

 

[Kristiina218]

Thank you for the reply and the tip! I will take better photos with my husband's phone tomorrow and post them. His camera is way better than mine. I will definitely get the honey for her. I've looked at tons of pics of YF tonight and it doesn't really look like it, especially since it's not at all yellow. But I can see the skin starting to break away like a somewhat thicker shed. She's had the abnormal eye lid since I brought her home. It was part of the reason I took her because I wanted to make sure if she needed help that she was going home with someone who would get it for her. I've dealt with some pretty bad things before with these guys but I have no experience with YF (and I hope I never will). I'll get those photos as soon as I can.

 

[Kristiina218]

Hopefully these pics are better. As you can see, it looks like a skin coloured crust and there is a scale on her bottom lid that looks like it may have been scratched.

 

[Kristiina218]

I know it takes longer for them to heal from a scratch than it does us, I'm just over protective.

 

[AHBD]

Those pics are good....I can see a bit of thickness that could have been a scratch or may be something abnormal but try not to panic yet. You can put some raw honey from a health food store on for a while [ don't worry, it's fine if it gets in the eye it can even go directly in the eye ] it's a natural antimicrobial. Thin it with just a bit of warm water, about 1 part honey 2 parts water + apply with a Q-tip. Then just watch to see if it heals up or starts looking thicker or in any way abnormal. When you use honey, never leave loose insects in the cage.

 

[Kristiina218]

Does it look at all like any YF you've ever seen? I notice she eye bulges and rubs her face on her hammock and keeps the eye closed sometimes.

 

[AHBD]

There's a little bit of thickening there, but not enough to say it looks like Y.F. Just keep an eye on it. Here's a link to a thread about a beardie that had it on her eye + other body parts. This is one of the success stories.....and it includes pics of what you need to watch for.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiuje2Wz9zKAhVMGT4KHTaNAyQQjhwIBQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.beautifuldragons.com%2Fyellowfungus.html&psig=AFQjCNE3vXYtF_FNshypaYOnf3ewy0ghlg&ust=1454624094202942

 

[Kristiina218]

Thank you. I'll update if anything changes.

 

[npgeorgeuw]

Hi Kristina, we have raised two babies to adults who had thick eyelids with a little crusty appearance exactly like yours. One of these dragons did eventually get lesions that sloughed skin but they were never necrotic and ulcerative. The other dragon never got lesions but did get patchy yellow sheds. Although we did not culture for CANV we did send out a small removed tumor from the eyelid that came back loaded with fungal intrusion and dekaratinizing consistent with CANV at which point we elected to treat with antifungals. Those dragons were fully treated with oral antifungals and the eye lids and "lashes" grew back and we've been lesion and goopy eye free for months now, a record.

I will say that Terramycin ointment helped (strangely enough it's not an anti fungal, but helped in our case and is eye safe) but either way the goopy eyes kept coming back with the next shed. Gently cleaning the excess skin with a wet cutip also helped.

I'm guessing in our case it was a mild fungal thing, maybe YF maybe not, which I think gets exacerbated by bacterial infections. While it didn't go away (fully and finally) until we treated systemically with antifungals, the antifungal treatments were a breeze for both dragons. They are long though. Both of ours gained 30-40g during treatment.