Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok. My Scamp had a checkup about two weeks ago, and everything was perfect except for the fact he had a rather large amount of conciddia (I think I spelled that right). Anyway, the vet gave me Albon to use and about a week ago, was Scamp's last day to be on the medicine. Well.. a few days before he went off the medicine he wouldn't eat any veggies, meat... nothing so I called my vet and said that it is probably just a side effect of the medicine, but not to get concerned unless he continues to have a loss of appetite for longer than a day or two. Until he got his appetite back, the vet recommended force feeding him with a syringe baby food, either veggie or meat based to keep his strength up. Well two more days pass and he still won't eat, so I notify the vet. Vet said I should definetly bring in Scamp to do some skin and blood tests. Well I get the earliest appointment I could make with my rather busy schedule and was told to continue to force feed Scamp (while offering him live food to see if his appeitte has come back) till the day of the appointment. The night before, Scamp ate a normal portion of giant mealworms and his veggies the following morning, so I cancled the appointment. Well two days pass and once again he losses his appetite, so I call the vet and let her know that no matter what, I need to set up another appointment to get him checked out. Which is this Thursday coming up. (This all happening during this week we're in now by the way). That was the earliest they could do without making an emergency deposit. I mean Scamp is still ative as anything, running around and playing with my cat so not to awfully concerned. (They now love to chase each other... it's halarious =D and dun worry.. my cat is so gentle with him it's cute ^^) Well, last night he ate two crix on his own, but wouldn't eat anymore.. so I went ahead and gave him only 1 CC of babyfood. (The vet recommends 2 CC but since he ate to huge crix I didn't want to overfeed him). It was about yesterday morning that I noticed a few yellow scales around his mouth and left eye, but it was so small and faint, I didn't think anything of it. Well today
while seeing if he would eat again (and alas... he even refused super worms which are his fav and a rare treat for him, so I had to force feed him again) I noticed even more yellow scales around the same areas before, only not so faint and that a few of the scales that were yellow flaked off. He has a small patch on his snout to so I quickly went to my books and info from my vet hoping that it wasn't yellow fungus but alas... I believe it is. Upon reading on it some more, when using Albon... beardies have been known to get the fungus after being off of it for a day, and also a sign of yellow fungus is lack of appetite... so I called the vet but their office had closed, so I went to doing some more research and noticed that in it's very early stages (and compared what Scamp looked like to the pictures, he more than likely has it) that a bit of Monistat can be used on the affected areas. So since my mom was running to the store, I asked her to pick some up for me but I am kind of hesitant to use a home remedy without getting word from my vet. They are also closed till Monday, but Monday I am going to call the vet to let her know.

My question is though... should I go ahead and try just a little bit of monistat on the dominate patch to see what happens or wait till Monday? I'm just afraid of medicating my dragon with a home remedy without consulting the vet but at the same time I don't want it to get worse if it turns out it really is yellow fungus and I really don't see the need to do an emergency visit and spend all that money for it to turn out to be nothing. So should I go ahead and try just a bit to see what happens or not?

BTW... at his checkup two weeks ago.. he was measures at 17 inches and wighed 432 grams. Also estimated that Scamp is about 10 or so months old. SO he is growing fast and healthy, just the yellow patches have me concerned along with his loss of appettite.

But for the third time, should I go ahead with the Monistat or wait till Monday? I got most of the info about the monistat from www.beautifuldragons.com (or is it .net...? You all know that website) as well as a few posts in a yahoo sponsored group about yellow fungus in beardies, and an article from a vet that was posted at the website mentioned above.

Any other safer remedies would be recommended as well. >< Thanks ahead of time.

(BTW... the picture below is not one of him now, but one I took a few months back, just wanted to show him off again at how happy he looked before he started scaring momma ;P)

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Bearded Dragon x1(Scamp)
Cats x3 (Lelu, Hera, Nite)
Horse x1 (Renegade)

Poor Scamp, sounds like he has gone through some rough times, but there are solutions for it.

The yellow could be related to the medication, his eating being affected certainly is and that happens often with bearded dragons when they have been treated with Albon. Albon is a good medication, it is effective in killing what is really one of the harder to control parasites in them and it can be used safely with some support.

What you are describing in him we have seen and done studies on for 3 years now in bearded dragons. It could be one of two things and there are things you can do this weekend that are safe, will not harm him and may control or stop the problem.

The fisrt is: Albon also effects the other natural gut fauna killing it off and that can allow candida yeast to bloom in their digestive tract, candida yeast is a cause of stomatitis, and that usually shows up in the mouth area first. Adding a probiotic to his diet right now will counter that....there is one made especially for lizards by PET AUTHORITY called Acidophiliz , you can find it at most PetSmart store or online at www.reptilesupply.com , if all else fails to locate some, you can use human grade probiotics as long as they are dairy free, you can find them in most health food stores.

The other is: Albon tends to dehydrate dragons and when it is given it goes throughout their system to destory the coccidia, coccidia lives in the linning of the intestines and they can migrate to the liver and bile duct, where they can partial or totally plug up the duct. This will cause a back up of bile and the only way the dragon can express that from their system is by a jaundice showing up in the skin/scales. Again this usually is first noticed around the mouth area and also the tongue and inner mouth will have a yellow discoloration. Upping his hydration with soaks, and fluids by dropper will help him also flush not only the meds, but the liver also. If he will not drink water, you can give him some diluted gatorade or pedialyte... but make it real diluted, as the sugar can also feed the yeast.

For his mouth, you can get some Nolvasan ( carried at Farm, Cattle or feed stores) and with a q-tip put some on the affected areas (make sure you dilute it as per the directions) that will debrief the area and it will shed, usually removing any fungus or bacteria on the surface. Nolvasan is what most vets use to debrief wounds and can be used in their mouth, even internal mouth wounds are debriefed with it.

I would not use the antifungal meds on him yet. That is usually a more advance treatment for cases that are further along than what he is and really should be used under a vets advice. We have never known the antifungal creams to harm them, just something that may not be needed at this point and if it is needed later on, the vet really needs to access if it is a fungal diesease and advanced enough that you may also need oral antifungal meds with it.

Scamp is early enough I think just general care with probiotics and hydration will help if not solve the problem.

Here is the original article I did on Yellow fungus disease and what I beleive Veronica that has the beautifuldragon.com site used to treat her dragon that had this.

Also, keep his foods soft and simple right now, less taxing on the liver while he recovers. We have seen dragons stop eating for only a few day after treatment to several weeks, but just bear with him right now, he should bounce back and eat on his own fine... the meds and also the die off of coccidia along with other good bacteria makes him think that he is not hungry as the digestion is not working properly yet
Yellow Fungus: Possible Cause & Effects

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www.reptilerooms.com

Thank you so much for those other methods. I will most definetly avoid the monistat for now and give him a nice soak this evening. I also was not aware of the medication you can get from PetSmart, so I will most definetly pick some up so when I do go to the vet on Thursday, the results might end up being better. Thanks for the adivce and wish me luck. I miss watching him eat food on his own. =(
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Bearded Dragon x1(Scamp)
Cats x3 (Lelu, Hera, Nite)
Horse x1 (Renegade)

Its not a medication, it is a compound made from the active good bacteria that is also in their digestive tract with some fruits and vitmains added.... it is almost identical to a mix we were making for years to improve their gut fauna and deal with yeast infections. we never added the Yucca, but the dragons seem to love the stuff

Remember, once you open it to keep it in the frig to keep the bacteria alive.
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www.reptilerooms.com