all these could be related also and expressing themselves differently. Have the three been in contact with each other at all or where you handled one and then the other?
Mo (this might be one for CheriS) - I'm not having much luck getting her yellow fungus to go away. It is lingering on. She gets treatments of Lamasil on a daily basis. She was on Ketoconazole (orally) for 6 weeks a month or so ago and that seemed to help the fungus, but made her appetite zilch. I've tried AcidophiliZ and Parazap with no luck. She'll eat some but she's definately not doing as well as I had hoped. Is there a different oral med that we can give her without the nasty side effects that Keto has? The topicals just aren't cutting it.
There are other meds, but since they were originally designed for humans, that all are harsh on a bearded dragons, this is one of the things that the researcher that is trying to get funding for wants to develop.
The biggest thing that people need to understand with a YFD (yellow fungus disease) is that there are two kinds of fungus, yeast based and mold based, the only way to know for sure which you are dealing with and then which fungus in that class is by a biopsy. The yeast based ones are usually responding to the nolvasan/lamisil treatments, the mold based ones will appear to get better, but still be there and its a terrible cycle that will not have good results. I wish I could give you better answers for treatment, but at this time with so little known about them, we are mostly putting bandages on wounds while awaiting more research. If I were you, at this point I would talk to my vet about getting a tissue sample and having it cultured.... don't send it to just any lab for culture or reading, have your vet work with the researcher that has more information and can identify molds..... at least we have one now that is available to work with Vets on this.
Lizzy - Lizzy's eyes water when he eats/chews. Also, he often wakes up in the morning with a runny nose. It's not a clear fluid that comes out of his nose anymore - it's yellowish, thick, and sometimes its hardened to the point where I can't get it out. His appetite has also decreased in the last month or so and the runny nose has been more pronounced. Do beardies get sinus infections or is this bacterial? I plan to get him to the vet this weekend. Should the vet take a sample of his nose fluid or something?
An infection of any kind can be bacterial, yeast or fungal, all are known to invade a respiratory or/and digestive track, again a culture may be your only way to get a definitive answer, since he is secreting fluid, this one may be able to be done with a smear and local reading... but if you are sending off one tissue sample, your vet may want to include that also if the researcher will accept it.
Ojay - Ojay has had Stomatitis (mouth rot) on and off for the last two years. He had it when we got him and it's never fully gone away. In July 2002 the vet swabbed his mouth and pseudomonas bacteria was found. Ojay was put on Baytril for a few weeks and the mouth rot seemed to go away. But only temporarilly. It's back again! We tried Baytril again with no luck. The vet prescribed Ciprofloxacin (spelling?). That's the med they use for inhalation anthrax. It's very expensive and the solution is only good for 2 weeks before it expires. Has anyone had any success getting rid of pseudomonas?
Stomatitis is a symptom of something else, finding the causive agent can be very hard if not impossible, you can treat that symptom, but that may not get to the root problem. Most medical approach is to treat the symptom and hope you get to the cause also. I don't know what to tell you for this dragon, you have obviously tried to address the problem with traditional trouble shooting meds, both antibiotics are usually good at covering broad ranges. Maybe there is something in his diet that is irritation his stomach and digestive track. Just for the sake of trying something else, I would talk to your Vet about doing a round of antibiotics (with probiotics) again but change and eliminate any high oxalate acid foods from his diet also and if using course calcium's and supplements go to the fine powders and softer food, like less chitin or shells. it may limit his variety, but you may find that he is sensitive to one or two foods. So trying to only use a main soft food source for awhile may tell you something.
