eye problem with a gouldian

Is your finch sick or not well? Find out why.
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marsupial
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Joined: 08 Feb 2019, 20:23
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I have a blue Gouldian that has conjunctivitis. I have treated her with Triple C (antibiotic) for 7 days (twice a day). I started to hand feed the antibiotic-water solution to her after the first few days (using a syringe) because I wasn't sure that she drank enough and it has been very hot. I also cleaned the eye with saline eye wash but over the first 10 days or so it only improved a little. I then changed to applying Chlorsig 2xday and I am about a week into it now. The eyes generally look better in the evening and worse in the morning but I am not totally happy with it yet I Iwill continue with the Chlorsig only for a few more days and post an update. She eats happily and seems otherwise okay besides the usual irritation coming from two itchy eyes.
Keep you posted.
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Craig52
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In the early days of blue gouldians this was the first sign of a very common ailment in them and they didn't survive. I tried every thing that you have but it was to no avail.
I /we found that a multi vitamin and an amino acid alleviated the symptoms in particular vitamin A and E / D fortified products virtually has eliminated the problem.
Alfarms product Soluminavit is available online and is the most common one used but a lot of breeders don't use any V+M's now and still produce good quality blue gouldians fed a quality varied diet.
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BrettB
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That is interesting Craig
Conjunctivitis has many potential causes, but i can not recall nutrient deficiency being one of them (perhaps my ignorance)
What is your understanding of the mechanism Craig, that the nutrient deficiency is impacting on their immune system and making them more prone to certain infections?

Cheers
Brett
"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are ." Anais Nin
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Tiaris
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Maybe the extra nutrition via supplementation made their immune system strong enough to withstand/ward off possible infections.
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Craig52
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All that i am saying is that twenty years ago when i started out with blue gouldians young blues rarely survived to the end of there moult.
Symptoms were, lethargic looking, pussy watery eyes with eye rubbing on the perch and sometimes a yellow diarrhea then death came very quickly.
Surprisingly, Vets had no idea how to treat these symptoms other than to say it was passed on by fostering with bengalese finches but my finches were aviary bred for generations with a blue to a split and also out crossed to normals.
A good friend of mine got me on to this product (soluminavit) and deaths deceased dramatically until there were no more than would be expected with normal young gouldians.
I'm not a vet but we did experiment with this product between many breeders in Melbourne and the outcome is as many know is that good healthy blue gouldians came from Melbourne breeders.
This still doesn't explain why this product has had a dramatic effect on blue gouldians but strong healthy birds are being bred now without the using the product and the birds are no different to breeding wild type birds.
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BrettB
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The improvement in the strain is a credit to those pioneers.
Looks like the answer to Marsupials problem is clear, Blues need more vitamin/amino acids than "regular" Gouldians.

Just out of interest, did the splits have any of these problems Craig?

Cheers
Brett
"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are ." Anais Nin
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Craig52
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No Brett, splits do not have the problem but may be carriers of what ever it is/was with no ill effects.
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Tiaris
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Or they may have more resilient immune systems.
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