Aussie Finch Forum

Hello,

I am seeking some health advice for my gouldians. I bought seven (pair and 5 offspring- nearly coloured) a few weeks ago. Before mixing with my exisiting birds i kept them in a separate cage and closely watched them. Everything seemed fine for first few days (could have been a week) when I noticed the hen was breathing through her beak. I separated her and put in small cage inside. Next day another one was doing same thing. I tried to catch this one but im not very fast and the stress I was causing all the birds seemed to be doing more harm then good.

The hen had a distinctive clicking sound when breathing and from having this problem a few years ago and researching it thought it would probably be air sac mites. Well after two days of non stop ringing every vet and pet shop within a two hour distance got the brisbane bird vet to send me moxidectin plus.

My problem is that I have now been treating all birds for five days (max treatment time before two week break) and they are still very drowsy. Havent noticed the clicking noise or open mouth breathing but do not look well at all.

What should I do? Does anyone think its not air sac mites?

Also I have tried to scrub the perches best I can but its hard as some cant be removedfrom the cage.

What has other people's experience been with treating with moxidectin (or something similar). Do the birds improve straight away?

Any advice would be so greatly appreciated.

Also, can anyone shed light as to how they would have got the air sac mites?

Sorry this is so long. Im quite stressed and sad. Not a very happy christmas.

i use invomec for air sac mite, so cant comment on the moxidectin. whenever i treat birds with it, they seem to be abit ruff for that day, then they start to come good.

did you buy the new birds from a breeder?? did they say anything about how they worm or treat they goulds??

i assume stress( moving from there avairy to yours can bring on some illness?? )

another option is to supply the sick birds with a heat source so they can concentrate on fighting the illness rather then trying to stay warm.

hope this helps

best of luck

Jarryd

From your description it sounds like the birds do have /had airsac mite.
Infected birds can seem to be handling the problem but then if they are moved they stress and the infestation on top of the stress is too much for the bird to mask the problem.
When they were taken from the original place there would be stressed. The bird clicking is a definite sign of airsac mite.
In my opinion Moxidectin is miles ahead of other cure particularly in the safety dept.
Airsac mite is a hideous infestation as they not only clog up airways but infest all body cavities and birds have numerous spots.
Once you have treated the bird then the mites will die rapidly BUT their bodies are still within the birds body and will take time to disappear. Hence the bird seems to be drowsey as it is basically ill. The follow up treatment is to cover any unhatched eggs at the first dose.
If birds have been infected badly for a long period their lungs can be damaged and they will still gape as if they are still infected.
Treat all the birds and then leave them well alone and give them a chance to cope with the problem and stress less.
This is not directed at you but it staggers me why people insist on fiddling with seedy/ill birds, treat them and leave them well alone. If I have a cold or ill all I want is to be left alone don't you think this applies to birds as well.(Off my soap box now)

thank you for your advice.

I have stopped the moxidectin plus treatment and will wait the two weeks before i treat again. hopefully they are simply recovering and will be ok soon.

have a very merry christmas!