This is in continuation of this post about overgrooming but I wanted to start a new thread for the subject line.

I searched for information on what you call "ick" that affects joeys because that's what it's starting to look like on my 1.5 year old glider. The only threads about ick I could find here were really old, so I'd like some updated information.

Pi's fur is turning brown and gross looking and he's overgrooming like crazy on his underside. It's gotten really bad. I was wondering if adult gliders can get ick? We've treated him with anti-mite treatment, anti-fungal, and antibacterial and nothing seems to be helping and the vet doesn't really know what to do so any advice would be amazing.

In addition I had a question that my vet didn't really answer and idk why: should I be actively trying to stop him from grooming? He's constantly doing it if he's awake and not eating. There's no way I can always stop him but when I can should I bother? Since I can't stop him all the time and since he's so insistent with it, would it be better to just let him do his thing?

Another thing: how much should I be cleaning his cage? I know normally you shouldn't clean it every day but with this happening I'm wondering how much to do it.

Finally, I've gotten a bottle of Micrycyn. Should I be sorta washing him with it, like rubbing him with a q-tip covered in it or spraying it on and wiping it off or do I just spray it on and leave it? (when I wipe or roll the q-tip with the mycrocyn on it, some of the brown-yellow color comes off onto the q-tip.)

Here's what he looks like now:

Wow... is your vet treating him?

I have zero experience with this, but what I've researched:

If he in fact has ick, the vet should be treating him with an anti diarrhea med and more. It seems to be a protozoan parasite in their intestinal tract.

It is contagious to other gliders.

A fecal done by the vet should find this for sure.

"ICK" is actually just a descriptive word. The actual condition is staph/yeast infection.

Have your vet do a skin scraping on him and send it off to be tested. Also, get him on some antibiotics for the infection. I would also highly suggest getting him some Veterycin VF (the VF stands for veterinarian formula) as this works ten times better than the stuff you can get at the store.

If your vet does not have it, you can also find some at Critter Love®

The Mycrocyn will work it is similar to Veterycin, the two guys that came up with Veterycin broke up and the one came out with Mycrocyn, which is supposed to be better than Veterycin.

I agree with Peggy about the skin scraping and antibiotics.

Well that makes more sense than what I was finding... how can the two be confused?

I've been to the vet 3-4 times with this. I will ask her to (finally) do a skin scraping because all she's been doing is treating stuff hoping it'll work. She keeps saying how she'd need to take a chunk of skin though... Is that what a skin scraping is? "scraping" sounds a lot less invasive than a "chunk of skin".

About the Vetricyn/Microcyn: Do I just spray it on and let it dry or what's the right way to treat him with it?

EDIT: fecals have also been done multiple times, forgot about that.

For a skin scraping they just take a blade and scrap the skin to get some of the top skin, they shouldn't have to take a chunk (that would be a biopsy).

So I think Miko is getting whatever Pi has now... This hurts so much watching them go through this and not knowing how to help.

It is probably a staph infection.

The vetericyn you just spray them down with it and allow them to dry.

sounds like they really need some antibiotics to clear it up.

I forgot there was a reply until just now. Anyway, like I said earlier Pi is currently on antibiotics and they don't seem to be helping :c and I keep forgetting to call my vet while they're open... I'm kind of a night owl like my suggies and I don't remember to call them until like 9pm and by that time they're closed...

sounds like you might need a second opinion. Just like seeing a doctor, an extra pair of eyes can be a great help with vets.
Are they on an oral antibiotic or a topical one?