Aussie Finch Forum

A couple yanks over on finch forum say you should only treat new gouldians for air sac mites

If you keep the flock well fed and taken care of you never have to treat the whole flock for air sac mites

Im currently using s76 every 3 months

The yanks say you are doing more harm by routinely treating for air sac mites, the yanks reckon the birds own immune system should keep the mites under control

Whats better treat the flock every 3 months or only treat new birds?

In some ways (my opinion only) they are correct....I believe ASM is brought on by stress...I treat mine once before breeding and again after ( moxi plus) ...new birds a quarantined and only treated if I feel they need it..(rarely)...others will have different ideas....

vettepilot_6 wrote:In some ways (my opinion only) they are correct....I believe ASM is brought on by stress...I treat mine once before breeding and again after ( moxi plus) ...new birds a quarantined and only treated if I feel they need it..(rarely)...others will have different ideas....

So you only treat them twice a year, sounds good

Maybe 4 times a year is overkill

if you see them sitting around gasping for air, continuous beak wiping, tail pumping, wings dropped, clicking when held to ear..then more than likely ASM has raised its head again.... is that a holding cage? if not you may have to treat more often because of overcrowding?

I also think it depends on how you house them.
Not that I bring a lot of new birds into my collection but I would then I may consider using a medication.
That is it unless a see signs from a young bird caught up and being held in my bird room which
could have been brought on by stress.
I do not see it as a problem if your birds are not over crowded and held outside.
Those held indoors in smaller breeding cabinets etc my need more attention but I can not see
why birds should be dosed with anything because someone has said they may have something.

I am not a vet . .

But, how could the immune system have any preventative effect on the actions of a parasite?

If you find ASM, treat the flock for mine

vettepilot_6 wrote:if you see them sitting around gasping for air, continuous beak wiping, tail pumping, wings dropped, clicking when held to ear..then more than likely ASM has raised its head again.... is that a holding cage? if not you may have to treat more often because of overcrowding?

I have 6 pairs of gouldians in that aviary

Colony breeding

arthur wrote:I am not a vet . .

But, how could the immune system have any preventative effect on the actions of a parasite?

If you find ASM, treat the flock for mine

Basically the yanks think all gouldians have air sac mites, but a healthy gouldians immune system keeps the mites from becoming fatal to the bird

Well,i will say it.Don't take too much notice of Yanks,they know every thing about gouldians and how to breed them in enclosed rooms in cabinets where ASM will multiply in the enclosed conditions.
Arthur,you are right, it's when a bird is down in condition that ASM will attack the most and that also means their immune system is down also but the immune system does not fight ASM,but with the immune system down it allows ASM a better chance for them to multiply and spread to other birds.

Imo,don't worry about ASM until you see the symptoms,treat all birds in the aviary at this stage a couple of times over 2-3 weeks and spray your aviary out with a mite treatment at the same time.
Werty,believe what you want but AFF Australia is the home of gouldians and we don't need to pump medications in to our birds to keep them healthy unless absolutely necessary. Cheers Craig

If you have a problem and you dose your birds you must also clean your perches.
An infected bird will frequently wipe its beak across a perch.
In the none breeding period these perches are the main venue of parasites to move from bird to bird.