Help/info appreciated, Diamonds dropping like flies!

[Tintola]

More details on the "tanbark" please. Sometimes it has been treated to stop termite attack.

[Tiaris]

My immediate thoughts turned to organic floor substrate acting to retain moisture in the aviary floor. Moist aviary floors & Diamies are a disasterous combo. Far better with a free-draining inorganic material such as sand or fine gravel (whatever is locally available and best value). As said earlier & with the number of losses & ongoing recurrences it would definitely pay to get post-mortem & positive diagnosis to treat.

[natamambo]

While a toxin is plausible, and more common than we realise I suspect, why would a toxin kill only at night? Surely the birds would be dropping off the perch (so to speak) at any time of the day or dying in the roosting nest. I still lean towards night fright, I lost 6 of 8 Gouldians that way in a 2-3 week period, the issue was the neighbour's cat (which was resolved only by breeding season and the birds sleeping in the nest overnight).

[vettepilot_6]

While Poisoning is very possible...wouldnt you see some signs through the Day..sick looking bird..unsteady on their feet...shaking? all these would point to toxins....if they are only at night I would think more likely night fright....but again Dampness is another killer of Diamonds...But you would see signs of that too through the Day...just my opinion

[Buzzard-1]

The only time I have had mass mortality with Diamonds, was a Tape worm burden you'd think they would have looked sick but no, post mortem showed the problem.

[vettepilot_6]

The only time I have had mass mortality with Diamonds, was a Tape worm burden you'd think they would have looked sick but no, post mortem showed the problem.

Quite possible too...but wouldnt the others be affected?

[Buzzard-1]

You would think so but never lost another type, only the Diamonds ? All the birds got wormed though.

[Myzomela]

Quite possible too...but wouldnt the others be affected?[/quote]

You could use the same argument for the night frights. Rosellas, for example, can be very flighty and are more prone to head trauma than many finch species.

You could be quite correct about it being trauma. The point is you need to investigate to find the answer- not just guess.

If it was something like tapeworm as in Buzz's case, you'd kick yourself if you kept on blaming night frights instead of concentrating on effective worming and removing the intermediate hosts (insects) from the aviary.

[Havealookwhatuvedone]

Thank you to everyone for their input- am lapping up the different opinions, suggestions and possibilities!
Regarding tanbark/mulch it is basically mulch that you'd see after the council has felled trees and put it through the chipper, except when I replaced it, maybe 3 weeks ago it was bone dry (replacing wet mulch). So doubt the new substrate had anything to do with it- though half of the aviary was permanently wet through winter, even though the aviary is fully roofed, due to where I live. Temperature doesn't reach double figures, and with no sun, (due to local climate, not aviary position) it doesn't get a chance to dry out.
Anyway, haven't lost any for a few weeks and with the sun returning and temps rising, even my queensland bred double-bars are thriving!
Perhaps (fingers crossed!) it's just one of those demoralising bad patches that is (almost) forgotten when young hit the perch!
Thanks again for all the info.

[desertbirds]

. So doubt the new substrate had anything to do with it- though half of the aviary was permanently wet through winter, even though the aviary is fully roofed, due to where I live. Temperature doesn't reach double figures, and with no sun, (due to local climate, not aviary position) it doesn't get a chance to dry out.
Anyway, haven't lost any for a few weeks and with the sun returning and temps rising, .

I reckon you answered your own post in those few sentences.