Yellow fungus or shedding?

[Ashley1436]

Okay I am not sure if my bearded dragon has yellow fungus or not. Let me start off by saying ever since he was a baby he has been having shedding issues. I took him in under my care because he was being malnourished. I can't stand seeing that especially in pet stores. When I first got him he was very very little and he also has a patch of skin that was old skin building up on the left side of his face by his ear. It took a lot of baths and tender loving care to help him shed that old skin. I have a pic of him when he was younger back in 2012, if I find it I'll definitely upload it.

Buddy is two years and four months now. I love him to death I pay plenty of attention to him. He is in a 40 gallon reptile tank. Instead of carpet he has microfiber mats down which I find them way better then carpet, tile, and sand. He has two 75 watt bulbs and a repti10.0 florescent light.I usually feed him green leaf lettuce, yellow squash, a snap peas. Mainly green leaf lettuce and occasionally crickets and super worms.
Like I said in the above paragraph he had some skin issues. I notice now since he's an adult he has been shedding in different areas of his skin a lot lately. I also been noticing how it keeps turning in yellow patches on his back and the sides of his stomach. Looks like a crusty yellow scab that he eventually sheds it off, but it comes right back worse the second time.


Him in 2012:

His juvenile stage preadult:

Buddy now:

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

You have a nice looking dragon there. He has really grown since you got him.
It does look a little suspicious on those areas.
What is the humidity in the tank & the basking temperatures?
You could consider treating for yellow fungus to help out. You can get some anti-fungal cream such as lamisil or monistat to help externally. Do you have any probiotics you could give to him daily to help balance out the GI flora?
You could also get a skin culture done also to help determine if it is yellow fungus & what type of fungus it could be if it isn't yellow fungus. You could just use a piece of shed skin for the scraping at the vets.

Tracie

 

[Ashley1436]

Humidity usually stays in between 20-40 never past 50. Basking temperature stays 90-95. Thank you very much I took plenty of good care of him and he loves to cuddle with me at night before bed time. Is it still safe to hold him if he has yellow fungus? Questions to ask you about anti-fungal cream, is it safe to use, how much to use and will it hurt him? My last alternative will be the vet, I do know one in my area that treats exotic animals and she is pretty good at it too. I just think if it is nothing that serious I can probably take care of him at home. The answer about probiotics is no and what do you consider would be the best kind of probiotics to give him? Now is there anything I could put in his bath water to help him with his skin problem? He still is active during the day eats and has a bowel movement every couple of days. Here are more pics of him now. He is always so relaxed when he's on me, he'll let me do anything to him lol.

 

[Ashley1436]

Just for additional info I do sprinkle fluker's calcium with d3 on their insects and I use zilla's food spray vitamin supplement on their lettuce it has calcium and d3 in it also a lot other vitamins. I occasionally use zilla bearded dragon fortified food. Also I feed him once a day, but he gets lots of food in the morning. An hour after his wake up time. Wake him up at 7am let him bask for an hour then feed him. Play with him in the afternoon sometimes and let him run around. Put him back in his home, then I usually sit on the computer and talk to him while I am on here lol. I usually turn everything off at 7:30-8pm.

 

[Ashley1436]

I 'm probably going to have to take him to the vet. I gave him a bath this morning and he usually enjoys them, but you can tell he is in pain on his sides where the abrasion is at. When I decided after his bath to rub some mineral oil on it he pretty much slapped his hand on my hand telling me to leave that part alone. So I'll make an appointment today and hopefully it won't be that much money. I mean money doesn't matter as long as they fix him. I'll let you know how it went.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How did things go at the vets?
You can definitely dilute some betadine in his bath water to help clean his skin, daily.
The anti-fungal creams are strong, but you can use them safely for on & off periods of time.
It may be to the point to where he will need an oral antifungal though, but they should be able to determine just how much it has spread through doing a culture. Since it seems to have been an ongoing issue, they may decide on an oral antifungal though.
That is fine that you get him out & hold him, that is no problem at all. Since fungus can spread, be sure to keep his blanket laundered often.
The best probiotics are either non dairy soy yogurt, or non dairy acidophiliz. You can get the acidophiliz in liquid form or powder. You should be able to find the soy yogrut at the store or the acidophiliz at a health food store. You can purchase probiotics online, too.
I would increase the basking range to 95-105 with a cool end of around 78-82 or so. The humidity is just right then for him.
He is a nice looking dragon & hope that he is feeling better today!

Keep us posted on him.

Tracie

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. Just noticed you don't have a digital with a probe. The round gauges and those stick ones are no good. They are usually off by 20 degrees or more. You need to know the temp of the basking area. So you need a temp gun or the probe.

 

[Ashley1436]

Sorry it's been a while. I just got back from the vet with Buddy. It went very well, he did really good and he got a lot of attention. I found out that he does not have yellow fungus (thank god). The vet said that it looks like a skin infection, but then she said it might be his liver also. Then she looked at him some more and said that it probably is a skin infection, but overall his environment seems really good. She also said that he is a beautiful lizard and very nice/calm. So she gave me some antibiotics to give to him and a bottle of betadyne for his bath. She said she would call me in a week to see how he is doing. Poor Buddy he is so wore out from today that he is laying down on his log and sleeping.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That is good news he is doing pretty well. Which antibiotic is he on & for how long?
Did they think it was yellow fungus or a bacterial infection of the skin?
Is he eating very much right now?
I would be sure to give some probiotics while he is on his meds to keep his GI tract in check.
He doesn't think it is liver issues? That is good news. If they still think it is liver issues, a blood test would be a good idea.


Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

 

[Ashley1436]

He is on amoxicillin for seven days. The vet said it was not yellow fungus. Which I agreed with her when I realized after giving him a third bath for the day the yellow part of his skin was coming off. He is still a very active and social lizard. He eats his crickets and superworms, then he'll it his greens. Then he'll run around in his tank until he has a bowel movement. I do have one more question though, can this problem he has be stressed related? The reason I asked is because I have another bearded dragon in a different 40 gallon tank across from him. I think she's a female and she is a year younger then him. He waves his arms to her all the time and she bobs her head very slowly to him back. I'm thinking about moving her or maybe blocking his part of the tank so he doesn't see her that much. Overall I gave him his first bath in betadyne today for 5-10 mins and he did real good. Some of those bad parts came off of him right away. For his medicine he does not like it one bit, I have to give it to him in a syringe. When I do this he usually shakes his head and rubs his mouth on his carpet or log. So should I give him like soy yogurt or something like that just in case? My veterinarian never told me to give him a probiotic. Oh and I did order a digital temp and among other things today for my babies. Also the vet did weigh him and he weighed over one pound, is that a reasonable weight for his age? Thanks for helping me out.

She also looked inside his mouth and said he had a little yellow in it. Then that's when she believed it was some kind of infection. I just glanced at Buddy and noticed his skin is turning kinda crusty, is that the betadyne? It is where all his infected areas are at.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

The areas on his skin were coming off some in his bath? How are they looking now?
Continue with the betadine bath daily, to help out with his skin.
Moving him to an area where he can't see her real well may decrease some of the stress, definitely.
Since he is on antibiotics, it is always recommended to give probiotics to help offset the negative side effects.
The yellow in his mouth could also be natural pigmentation which some dragons do develop. If he is concerned it could be liver issues then a blood test would be helpful.
The weight sounds good, how long is he, in total length?

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

 

[Ashley1436]

Okay I'll give him a probiotic. I just need to know what kind of probiotic and how much? Is Muller's Greek yogurt good for him? I just recently measured him and he is about 23-24 inches long from his nose to the tip of his tail. Yes, when I bathed him that one time three times in one day the dead flaky parts of his skin on his back was coming off. I'm just worried about his tail because it's been a while since it shed and it has some black spots on it in the middle part of it. For his liver the vet said she would call me back in a week to see how he is doing and we'll go on from there.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

The greek yogurt would be fine as long as it is a non dairy yogurt. We usually recommend the non dairy soy yogurt if you can find it. They are unable to digest dairy very well.
As far as the amount, just a small amount either mixed in with some food or in a syringe. I would estimate .5ml or so is adequate. They don't need much.
You can use shea butter, aloe vera or cocoa butter along with frequent baths to help his tail. If you have a small soft toothbrush, you can try gently brushing the tail skin that is retained to see if that helps.
He is a long dragon, not too many of those around.
Hopefully everything else is fine especially with his liver.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie