I only discovered it on the 29th either as the day or day after his tail began to shed. Dio's tail tip is the only part that is visibly effected by the possible rot. The tip has become black, hard, and does not seem to have any feeling when pinched. The hard black bit is roughly less than a centimeter.
I will admit I have been a fool, pinching the tip a couple times to either to make him run (so he wasn't hyper the following day), to demonstrate to family about his tail strength, or because I was being crazy. There have been times I've closed a device and caught Dio's tail.
We have begun treatment at home since the main exotic clinic that keeps popping up as a search result might not specialize in reptiles, and it costs to see a vet. We are getting a UVB for my room (his enclosure is downstairs) since the winter sunshine is uncommon and much weaker. We have manuka honey that we might use at some point.
If you have any tips, methods, or anything that works for tail rot please let me know
In the second photo he still has shed on his tail but I can't get at it without being whipped. Also this shed hasn't pealed off, I looked at his tail under a microscope and I can see there is (even without the microscope) a sizable gap between the new and old scales still there.
That does look like a bit of tail rot, do the betadine soaks for it but watch because it can spread. They tricky thing about rot is that it can sometimes spread up under the scales at first unnoticed.
Thank you for the help.
Also I’ve been doing the betadine soaks and putting a polysporn(?) on after. One time after a bath; I did try a salt (aquarium and Himalayan) water soak then a betadine soak. Another time I put manuka honey on, washed it off and then the betadine soak. I am half tempted to use a copper(?) based solution/medicine that is meant to treat ich but for Dio’s tail.
I noticed the rest of the shed on his tail isn’t coming off like everywhere else he sheds. This could mark how far the infection is or it’s a really weird stuck shed.
I've never heard of using products made for fish so I'd avoid that. Manuka honey is good though. Keep track of the tail and if it gets worse you'll need a qualified reptile vet to see it. Right now it's not looking too bad.