Austwickia Chelonae or common fungal infection?

[arifianto83]

Hi guys. I am new at this forum. My name is Arifianto from Indonesia. Nice to meet you all.

I have few questions:
1. Is this yellow bumps (see pics) on may baby sulcata Austwickia or common fungal infection? In its enclosure i have 5 babies in total. This one is the worst one, the others two showed small yellow bumps, the other two did not. It has gotten worse so fast. In a few hours, two new bumps showed on its nose. This on is not eating and the shells got much softer than usual. I have to let go of all the babies to someone who is more competent to treat them.





2. This babies live next to 6 inches sulcatas. The baby and those 6 inches were on different enclosures but right next to each others. Do you think these 6 inches will also get it? It has been 3 days since the infections on the babies, but i did not see any symptomps on the 6 inches.
3. How to streilize the baby enclosure for new sulcata? Sadly i have to let go of the babies to other people who are more competent to treat it. And i want to use the baby enclosure for new sulcatas. If this truly Austwickia, i heard it is hard to kill. Even bleach and drying under the sun won't kill the bacteria.

All answers will be highly appreciated. Thank you very much.

 

[KarenSoCal]

The bumps on the baby look consistent with the austwickia bumps, I'm very sorry to say. There is no cure, and so far, every baby who had it has died.

Whether the sulcatas are infected probaby hinges on how much you went from the sick ones to the healthy ones without washing your hands. Or if you used the same dishes, etc from one to another. It can also be passed via water, as in contaminated water flowing in to the healthy ones' enclosure. Now that you know, you must be very careful! Wash hands entering and exiting enclosures, keep utensils completely separate, when the babies are eventually removed from their enclosure, all equipment that was used with them should be thrown out and replaced. The enclosure walls should be washed with bleach, and the substrate replaced.

Read this thread...it's painful, but will give you the background of how we've been tracking this for over a year now.

Yellow Bumps on Tortoises

www.tortoiseforum.org

 

[arifianto83]

The bumps on the baby look consistent with the austwickia bumps, I'm very sorry to say. There is no cure, and so far, every baby who had it has died.

Whether the sulcatas are infected probaby hinges on how much you went from the sick ones to the healthy ones without washing your hands. Or if you used the same dishes, etc from one to another. It can also be passed via water, as in contaminated water flowing in to the healthy ones' enclosure. Now that you know, you must be very careful! Wash hands entering and exiting enclosures, keep utensils completely separate, when the babies are eventually removed from their enclosure, all equipment that was used with them should be thrown out and replaced. The enclosure walls should be washed with bleach, and the substrate replaced.

Read this thread...it's painful, but will give you the background of how we've been tracking this for over a year now.

Yellow Bumps on Tortoises

www.tortoiseforum.org

Thank you so much for your swift response.

May i ask again. How long does yellow bumps usually appear after infection? Hopefully my 6 inches sulcatas won't get it. Because they seem perfectly healthy these past 3 days. And if (Heaven forbid) they got it, will this illnes also be life threatening to 6 inches sulcata?

 

[KarenSoCal]

Thank you so much for your swift response.

May i ask again. How long does yellow bumps usually appear after infection? Hopefully my 6 inches sulcatas won't get it. Because they seem perfectly healthy these past 3 days. And if (Heaven forbid) they got it, will this illnes also be life threatening to 6 inches sulcata?

I'm not sure how long it takes for symptoms to appear. @mastershake can help with that.

We've seen this, I think, only in babies. Adults seem to not be as sensitive. I don't know about 6 inchers. @mastershake ?

 

[Jan A]

Thank you so much for your swift response.

May i ask again. How long does yellow bumps usually appear after infection? Hopefully my 6 inches sulcatas won't get it. Because they seem perfectly healthy these past 3 days. And if (Heaven forbid) they got it, will this illnes also be life threatening to 6 inches sulcata?

Bleach will not destroy the bacteria. Maybe ammonia & ammonia-based soaps. We don't know for sure how to kill the bacteria.

I don't know what you mean by "sadly I have to let (the babies) go to others who are competent to treat them" & you need to sterilize their cages for new sulcatas.

You can continue what you're doing & spread whatever this is to all your other torts & reptiles & incoming torts. If it's Auswitckia, it's very contagious. You likely cannot completely sanitize your equipment & facilities without knowing more about what you're faced with & how to erradicate it. So bringing in more torts, will expose them to a fatal, painful disease.

 

[Tom]

Thank you so much for your swift response.

May i ask again. How long does yellow bumps usually appear after infection? Hopefully my 6 inches sulcatas won't get it. Because they seem perfectly healthy these past 3 days. And if (Heaven forbid) they got it, will this illnes also be life threatening to 6 inches sulcata?

Did they have contact with this baby or its enclosure? If yes, then they likely have it to and can spread to it other tortoises.

 

[Tom]

Hi guys. I am new at this forum. My name is Arifianto from Indonesia. Nice to meet you all.

I have few questions:
1. Is this yellow bumps (see pics) on may baby sulcata Austwickia or common fungal infection? In its enclosure i have 5 babies in total. This one is the worst one, the others two showed small yellow bumps, the other two did not. It has gotten worse so fast. In a few hours, two new bumps showed on its nose. This on is not eating and the shells got much softer than usual. I have to let go of all the babies to someone who is more competent to treat them.

View attachment 334014

View attachment 334015

2. This babies live next to 6 inches sulcatas. The baby and those 6 inches were on different enclosures but right next to each others. Do you think these 6 inches will also get it? It has been 3 days since the infections on the babies, but i did not see any symptomps on the 6 inches.
3. How to streilize the baby enclosure for new sulcata? Sadly i have to let go of the babies to other people who are more competent to treat it. And i want to use the baby enclosure for new sulcatas. If this truly Austwickia, i heard it is hard to kill. Even bleach and drying under the sun won't kill the bacteria.

All answers will be highly appreciated. Thank you very much.

This baby needs to be humanely euthanized and then incinerated. Any other tortoise from the same source should be considered infected. You need to throw away anytime that had contact with this baby. The tub can be disinfected with a 20% ammonia solution. Bleach will not kill it.

You should not bring in ANY new tortoises for at least 8-9 months from now, and ONLY if see see absolutely no sign of infection or problems.

 

[mastershake]

i dont know why i never am notified when im tagged i even changed my email here to see if that was the issue. as tom said you need a strong ammonia (i prefer full strength if i use ammonia) or i prefer a strong ammonia quaternary we have tested a few and they do work well against this for cleaning purposes. but anything like wood or anything porous HAS to go and if you can burn them thats the best thing you can do instead of just tossing that stuff.

as highly contagious as i have seen this be if you had these babies with the older ones there is a very high chance they are carrying it even if you have not seen it yet. when they have a stronger immune system it can take longer for it to show symptoms. once infected babies usually its a few weeks before the bumps appear unless they become stressed where it lowers their immune system then it can happen almost overnight.

we have seen this in 6" and even larger now where they were in a shared space with the babies who had it so yes they can catch it. now if they were adults they may fare better as by then they generally have a much better immune system but they CAN STILL catch it. any and all reptiles are susceptible to getting this regardless of age or species.