Help! Sample take from chameleons eye (and infested fecal smear provided)

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jagerz
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Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2016 1:17 am

Help! Sample take from chameleons eye (and infested fecal smear provided)

#1 Post by jagerz » Fri Feb 09, 2018 8:08 pm

Here is a pic of her fecal sample.
https://imgur.com/gallery/a9OBM


This is a sample taken from my chameleons eye at 400x. Some background: she is a chameleon I rescued and am treating. I have found Coccidia, roundworms and unknown bacteria from fecal samples so she is currently being treated for those. However she has some problems with her eye (unilateral), she can still eat and see fine with her other eye and definitely still has some vision in this eye but you can tell it’s bothering her. She also has major tissue destruction in her eye that looked like It started with a bump on the cornea above the pupil and then tissue destruction all around the pupil.. I do keep her quarantined but I made the mistake of letting her free roam in the same area in my house where I let others free roam and now another one of my females has contracted the same eye issue.

She and allll of my chameleons are on their second treatment (after two weeks) of fenbendazole for the nematodes/roundworms. I haven’t found anymore adults but still eggs. They also received Ponazuril for coccidia. The two girls with the eye issues have been on poly-Opth eye drops and oral Baytril.
Hopefully I’ll see some progress! But I’m mostly worried about their eyes. Everyone seems otherwise very healthy and 1-2x yearly receive fenbendazole and/or metronidazole depending.

I’m thinking the round specs may just be WBCs and the other piece may just be a particle from a plant or something but I’m really not sure, and have no idea the cause or her eye issues.

https://imgur.com/gallery/lMsXO

More pics:
https://imgur.com/gallery/f9dn4 (The last three are a smear of terramycin mixed with discharge from the female with more tissue damage).
https://imgur.com/gallery/ZcSTs

Update:
I think there is a possibility nematodes are infecting their eyes. I already found roundworms in the fece’s, and while I can’t see worms with my naked eye in their eyes (they have very small eyes), the tissue destruction could make sense. I also think I may have found a roundworm egg in the discharge from the eye.

jagerz
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2016 1:17 am

Re: Help! Sample take from chameleons eye (and infested fecal smear provided)

#2 Post by jagerz » Tue Mar 13, 2018 10:55 pm

In case anyone is interested, I found out they were fungal spores coming from a blackish/brown mold growing on landscaping boards in my backyard

MichaelG.
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Location: North Wales

Re: Help! Sample take from chameleons eye (and infested fecal smear provided)

#3 Post by MichaelG. » Tue Mar 13, 2018 11:03 pm

jagerz wrote:In case anyone is interested, I found out they were fungal spores coming from a blackish/brown mold growing on landscaping boards in my backyard
Hopefully that's good news

MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'

apochronaut
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Re: Help! Sample take from chameleons eye (and infested fecal smear provided)

#4 Post by apochronaut » Wed Mar 14, 2018 1:14 pm

It sounds like you are pretty knowledgeable and the chameleons are in good hands but seeing the condition spread, must be unnerving. I would assume there are known methods for diagnosing roundworms in the eyes? Any specialist vets, that could advise you? Someone on a chameleon forum?
Good luck.

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SunshineLW
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Re: Help! Sample take from chameleons eye (and infested fecal smear provided)

#5 Post by SunshineLW » Thu Mar 15, 2018 4:00 pm

apochronaut wrote:I would assume there are known methods for diagnosing roundworms in the eyes? Any specialist vets, that could advise you? Someone on a chameleon forum?
As far as I am aware, all parasitic helminths of the eye are large enough to be seen grossly:

Thelazia sp. is one of the few species of nematodes commonly found on the eye surface (or rather in the conjunctival sac). They are deposited there by feeding houseflies (Musca sp.). Diagnosis is as simple as identifying the worm on the surface of the eye. Treatment is as easy as manually removing the worms; however, there are several topical anthelmintic protocols.

The anterior and posterior chambers of the eye are aberrant sites to which numerous nematodes (ex., Setaria sp., Toxocara sp., Baylisascaris procyonis, Angiostrongylus sp., Onchocerca sp., Parelaphostrongylus sp., ) and cestodes (ex., Taenia sp.) accidentally migrate. In other words, the larvae get lost wile migrating (usually in an aberrant host). This is a rare occurrence, but diagnosis is as simple as visualizing the worm swimming in the humor. As you can imagine, treatment is much more complicated (i.e., surgical).

Onchocerca lupi is an emerging parasite found in the external parts of the ocular apparatus (ex., conjunctiva, sclera, retrobulbar tissue, eyelids, nictitans) of numerous definitive hosts (dog, wolf, cat) and aberrant hosts (HUMANS!). It produces some pretty gnarly lesions!

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