Vet thinks this is old shed from stress.

[leanboy70]

My male beardie, Loyd is just over a year old. Housed with our other beardie, Harry we just found out is female this last spring and a few months older than Loyd.
He had thick bright yellow waxy scales on his chest with a black bloody round sore that would come off and some cracking on the underside of his tail. I was given diluted betadine to swab areas, and topical flamazine to put on irritated areas everyday. The vet didn't think it was fungus..her colleagues said it was old shed due to stress and bad husbandry. So I've bathing him a couple times a week to get soften old shed and use soft toothbrush to gently exfoliate off the waxy skin. He looks really dehydrated to me and not really active and gaunt. I think I caused him more stress by removing the old shed..the skin is smooth without any scales and a dark colour. I'm not sure what to do...should I bring him back to the vet??
I have excellent husbandry habits..and the beardie get along..once in a while they dominate each other but there's multiple basking areas so no need to fight for heat!

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, can you post pics ? Here's how :
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then hit XIMG
Not all vets know what Y.F. looks like but we see it here all the time. Of course a skin scraping will give a definite answer.

 

[leanboy70]

Thanks for the photo post info. It looks so brutal...and his back just above the tail area that's darkened is very sensitive to touch..he flinches even when I touch it softly.

 

[AHBD]

Poor Loyd....that's far more serious than old shed. it's almost certainly yellow or another type of fungus. The betadine baths can help and some of the areas may clear up but when it's bad it pretty much always comes back. There are oral meds. for it ....itraconazole + voraconazole, but it may be incurable. He's probably pretty miserable but you might see how he responds to treatment if he isn't too sick and if he will still eat. He doesn't look gaunt at all, pretty robust really.

Y.F. is contagious so your other beardie may also develop a fungal infection. It would be best to separate them. So sorry that he's sick + I wish you the best possible outcome.

 

[leanboy70]

Thanks for your input. I don't understand how they thought that was old shed. Thanks for confirming my concerns...I'll take him back to get more meds.
We're in the process of looking for another enclosure for Princess Harry too. She's probally infected already.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I agree, unfortunately that is likely yellow fungus or some other type of fungus like black fungus.
Start giving a probiotic to help balance out the system. At this point, oral antifungals would be an option once they determine which strain it is, to start treating it immediately.
The topicals can help buy some time, but fungus is a very serious ailment.
That is the cutest picture too!

Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

 

[leanboy70]

Quick update on Lloyd for those who were so kind to check in. To him back to the vet on Friday..he'd lost weight and now he's been treated for fungus. He barely moves around, has stopped eating for 2 days now..but drinks a lot of water...but he's gaining weight..his skin is very dry and flaky..and his beard is black all the time. I'm pretty sure he's dying. The vet asked me to try syringe feeding him with ensure to see if it'll help bring his appetite back. He won't even look at his favourite bright green horn worms..so sad. The kicker is that I'm going away for 2 weeks at the end of next week..I have my neighbour watching him and Harry..I just feel I don't have enough time to figure things out..I don't want him to suffer.

 

[AHBD]

I'm so sorry....it's unlikely that he'll recover and you have the sad decision to make about how long you'll try to do anything for him. I'm so sorry this happened to your boy.

 

[JessPets]

I am so sorry

 

[Rankins]

Yellow fungus is insidious, most dragons do die when they have it. Sorry your going through this. As others have stated it is contagious, keep a close eye on any other animals in your collection. Clean everything your ill animal had contact with. Obviously you can't clean all of it, you would have to sanitize the whole house. But do your best.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

OH I am so sorry about your boy, that is so sad. So, no improvement, really?
It is an extremely hard disease for them to overcome when it is in late stage such as it is.
The meds he is on though are likely making him feel pretty bad as they are hard on the system.
Have you been giving any probiotics for him too?
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie