Aussie Finch Forum

Finchy wrote:Doxy(cycline), not Moxi(dectin) - huge difference.

I got it from Rob Marshall a few years ago and still had some.

Sorry, typo. That's what I meant. Thanks finchy.

Update:

He went from strength to strength, ultimately flying double circles around the huge cage I set up for him in the living room and singing his heart out with gusto all day long. His chest continued to fill out with new muscle.

In the meantime I started a precautionary Doxycycline treament in the main aviary, so that when I transfered him back the other birds would be clean and he could continue the final stages of his treatment in situ.

I picked a warm dry morning 6 days ago and transferred him back to the aviary. It went well. He showed vitality and even looked better than the other Gouldians! I checked on him twice a day, every day, as he continued his treatment. No sign of sleepy eyes, fluffing or any other problem. Excellent!!!

This morning I found him DEAD on the ground. No sign of injury. No sign of wasting. No sign of disease. No food in his crop though, despite plenty being available. The other birds, of all species, are totally fine.

Not happy Jan. He was just too genetically fragile to live in an aviary, it seems.

So it's back to Lesson #1: Never, ever buy cabinet raised blue Gouldians from anyone, anywhere!

So sorry you lost him, bad enough to lose any bird, but a blue gouldian.

It's not the fragility of the aviary! I believe it is the weakness in the blue genetics.

I am in the USA, and all my birds are indoors under Waveform Natural Lighting and natural sunlight with minimum 72 degree F temps at night. I had the same exact problem as you with:

#1 Two rounds of 3 each Blue fledglings and a few chicks who made it past weaning (1 M, 1 F) - all born to a blue male and a green split to blue female;

#2 Blue female born to blue female and green male male split to blue (curiously the 1 male born green made it but didn't have the sleepy eye syndrome);

I tried everything you did: Ronidazole 12% for Canker, Endocox for Coccidiosis, hospital cage with heat lamp, Feather Fast for vitamins, Liquid Calcium for bones, Guardian Angel for Probiotics, FRESH (green) millet pray and fresh daily sprouting seeds, boiled eggs plus fresh vegetable chop including rice and/or oats, gammarus shrimp, fresh daily organic veggies( kale, bibb lettuce, dandelion greens, spinach (1X week)), and more.

I have and am successfully keeping wild type Gouldians, green split to blues and 2 blues.

All the blue chicks eventually died without feathering up fully. Necropsies showed nothing. It's the breeders who are doing this to make a quick buck on the blues!

Yes in Australia we had that same syndrome with blue gouldians. We also had no idea what was happening with them as vets had no idea as well.
Luckily we tried our own remedies in the way of vitamins and minerals with amino acids and extra Vit E on its own.
It did wonders and very few young blues were/are lost now.
It has got to the stage that so long as they get some V and M's with amino acids fed through the parents they are fine going through the moult and beyond.

Is this a record? A post resurrected after more than 10 years?

Most new members really don't know how the forum works. They go through old posts that are similar to the question they need to ask. All good and you are probably right Matcho