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Care sheets | Dragon Health | Parasites, Viruses & Diseases

Coccidia - Helpful tips to combat it

So, you take your fecal sample in and it comes back positive for Coccidia. Now what? Your vet will prescribe one of the “sulfa” drugs, Sulfamethoxine or Trimethoprim-sulfa. The most common drug prescribed is the Sulfamethoxine (Albon - usa) <-- (Baycox or Septrin in the UK).

There are different theories on how the drug should be administered. Usually the most common dosages are:

• a double dose on the first day and then half of that each day for the next six days
• equal doses for five days straight and then treat every other day until a clean fecal comes back
• the three day on/three day off method

Note the details above and below is for Albon use, a Vet in the UK will give the correct administration - Edit TC

Sometimes the Coccidia parasite can build an immunity to the drugs and become even harder to wipe out. The three day on/three day off method has seemed to work well in these cases.

The thing to keep in mind with Albon is that it wipes out any and all bacteria in the dragon, not only the bad but the good also. What is “good bacteria”? Well, it is the bacteria that your dragon needs to properly digest any food that it eats. This is often why dragons that are receiving treatment for Coccidia will completely loose their apatite. There are products that replace this “good bacteria” called probiotics (Avipro, Reptoboost and NutriBAC ). It is strongly recommended that if you are using sulfa drugs on your dragon you should also be using probiotics to replace the good gut flora.

This is how I administered the drugs and probiotics. I would feed the dragon an hour after his lights went on, which gave him time to warm up. I would wait about two to three hours after feeding him and give him the Albon. After another hour, this gives the Albon time to move through the dragons system, I would give him the probiotics. After that I would continue feeding him on his normal schedule. This worked well and he had no problems with digesting any of his food. By using this dosing schedule, he always had good gut flora in him when he was digesting food.

Albon is very brutal on a Bearded Dragon's system. Along with wiping out any and all bacteria that is in the dragons system, it will wipe out any hydration that your dragon has. Dehydration is a very serious issue when using Albon. You have to make sure that your dragon is very well hydrated. So, how do you do that? There are several options that will work well, offering water by dropping drips of water on the dragons nose (they will lick it off), or by misting the dragon. The single most effective way to hydrate your dragon is to bathe at least once a day while your dragon is on Albon. Some dragons will actually drink the water while they are bathing and others just will not. But, by simply soaking your dragon for 15 to 20 minutes will hydrate your beardie. Bearded Dragons absorb water through their vent. My dragon would not drink a drop of water, no matter what I did. But he was so hydrated from me soaking him everyday for 20 minutes that he was actually passing water with his feces and urates.

So now you know that you will have to give the dragon meds, probiotics, and a soak everyday. So that should take care of it right? Well, not quite. Remember the whole direct life cycle thing? You have to stop that cycle otherwise your dragon will just keep infecting itself over and over again. So, how do you do that?

In order to stop the direct life cycle dead in its tracks you have to stop the spread of the oocysts. In order to stop the oocyst, you must keep the environment that your dragon lives in immaculate. By keeping the enclosure clean you will eliminate the oocyst from the life cycle, which in turn will eliminate the Coccidia.

First, start by removing all of the furniture, substrate, and feeding/water dishes, and thermometers from your enclosure. Clean your tank, thermometers, and feeding/water dishes with a good disinfectant/sanitizer. Bleach and water at 30:1 will work as long as you let the solution soak for 30 minutes. Here is the problem with using bleach though; you have to make sure you rinse the tank very, very well. The fumes from bleach will kill your dragon. Another alternative is to use Chlorhexdine solution (Nolvasan) - F10SC Veterinary Disinfectant in the UK (Top stuff!). This is what some veterinarians use to sanitize stuff. There is a big benefit to using Nolvasan, there are little to no fumes. What little fumes that there may be from the Chlorhexdine solution are harmless to your dragon. Nolvasan is fairly pricey; however it will last a long time. You only need to mix 2 teaspoons to a gallon of water for a strong enough solution for sanitizing. If you mix it with tap water the solution will last 6 days, however if you mix it with distilled water it will last for six weeks! If you choose to use the Nolvasan, keep in mind that you should also let it sit on the surfaces of the enclosure for a minimum of 30 minutes to sanitize the tank.

You will be completely cleaning your enclosure EVERYDAY, so it is best to go with the most simplistic setup possible. For substrate you want to use something that will be quick and easy to change out, since you will need to change it at least twice a day and when your dragon poops. Some choices are paper towel, newspaper, or non-adhesive shelf liner. I started with newspapers, which worked well until I got sick of having to cut the paper to fit my tank. Not to mention that when I fed crickets, most of them would find their way under the paper. I highly recommend using the non-adhesive shelf liner. You can cut two pieces to fit your enclosure, and then you will always have a clean, sanitized piece to replace the dirty one. As far as furniture, the only piece that you will need is a basking area. Stay away from wood and other porous materials as you will have to sanitize, dry, and bake these daily to kill off the oocysts. The best route to go is using shoe boxes or small plastic Tupperware that is turned upside down. The cardboard shoe boxes you can remove, throw away, and replace with a new box. The Tupperware you can sanitize with the tank and then use it a gain. And of course, once they are sanitized, use your thermometers

This sure seems like a lot of work, huh? Well, it is. The only way to stop Coccidia is to stop the life cycle. This means that you will have to completely clean the dragon’s enclosure DAILY. This method of daily cleaning has been proven, along with medication, to help eliminate Coccida. One thing to keep in mind, keep up with the daily cleaning until you get a fecal test back that is negative for Coccidia. Even if you are done giving meds to your dragon, keep up the daily cleaning until you get that clean fecal back, otherwise you risk re-infecting your dragon and you will be back at square one!

I hope that this will help you understand what Coccida is, what it does to your dragon, and how to stop it. This is the knowledge that I have gained from my experience with it and hopefully it will arm you with the tools to combat the parasite successfully.

Source: thecrewdawg @ The reptile rooms