In 1990 Mundo Aquatico kept a group of 8 fur seals in it's facility at Lisbon. The animals came from South Africa about one year before and were about three years of age.
During spring of that year we observed a change in the skin, starting with a change in color, in particular on the head, with the loss of the first hair layer. In addition, we observed a change in the hair organization, starting on the belly and finally spreading across the whole body.
All known seasonal skin variations that fur seals have were considered. We also consulted two other places in Portugal that have fur seals and no skin variations were observed.
Culture results from hair and skin scrapings include Penicillium notatum and crysogenum, Phoma sp., Cladosporium herbarium, Torula sp., Candida sp. and Asperqillus niger. Fungus cultures of water revealed Cladosporium and Torula.
The disease was identified as a mycosis and was treated with ketoconazole, 10mg/Kg B.I.D., P.O., and with Polivinil pirrolidona (external application).
A close monitoring of their health status was easy to carry out because the animals were trained for voluntary specimen collection. This way we could take weekly blood samples as well as stomach and fecal samples to analyze possible alterations caused by the medication, taking special attention to stomach ulcers and liver enzymes control.
On average, the animals recovered after a treatment of about two months. No side effects were observed.