Sick Gouldian

[Fuyutski]

Hi all,

After frequently lurking these forums, I have finally decided to post a thread, concerning a sick Gouldian I obtained a few weeks ago.

Roughly, about 3 weeks ago, I made the mistake of purchasing a Gouldian pair from a pet store, specifically a Petbarn, which the hen, while sick, was very friendly and kept coming closer to my wife and I.

Originally, she displayed the original symptoms of:
* Sneezing
* Coughing (Small clicking noises)
* Fluffed up
* Sleeping in the sick finch position. (Head pointed backwards)
* Excessive wiping of beak.

Fearing it was a possible Air-Sac Mite infestation, I took her back to Petbarn under a 7 day health guarantee. I told them I didn't want an exchange, or a refund, but asked if they would take her to a vet, the manager on said they would. After checking up though, they only put her on probotics for 7 days. I decided after a week to take her and her partner back. I purchased some Pea Beu, giving her and her partner a daily misting, and some of her symptoms have receded. Particularly the sneezing and coughing, asides from the occasional cough which is still heard; she is still wiping her beak excessively though. She also went back to sleeping 'normally', and not being as fluffed up.

However, a week and a bit ago, I noticed her symptoms slowly changed to include her sometimes looking around as if following a flying insect, at the time of writing she is pretty much the same, being pretty active and eating lots of seed. I've uploaded a video to show her behaviour, she also does this when we're not next to her. At the moment, If I dim the desk light next to her and put the towel over her cage, she stops. Likewise, if I put my hand in, she'll stop as well.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBEzWt0OIrg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At the moment, their diet consists of seed, cuttlebone for calcium, occassional millet, and routinely change of Soluvet-Plus (75% of the time) and Avi-Cal (25% of the time) in the drinking water. They're situated next to a cage where a zebra finch pair reside, in which I've included a picture for everyone to see the setup. They're not my only finches, but the only ones not in the aviary outdoors.

While I am willing to take her to a vet if her situation worsens, I'd like to consider other avenues or recommendations first, as, due to being a university student, my access to finance is somewhat limited.

So may I ask anyone for suggestions? Additionally, feel free to make other critiques or anything else regarding the setup, et cetera.

Also, I have some Poly-aid Plus with probotic, what's the best way to dispense it to finches, particularly the Gouldians? I'm just curious if I'm doing it the most effective way.

- Brett

[djb78]

I'm not great diagnosing illnesses but sounds like at the start.it may have airsac mites never seen twirling in gouldians before but hate heard that its fatal in the end, I will leave this for some one else to answer. Also thought that treating for airsac mites took longer than 7 days.

[jusdeb]

Ive got nothing either except hope you find out whats wrong and the poor little thing is OK ..

Might pay to keep an eye and treat the other birds if treatable ...they are all in close proximity to each other and could be infected by whatever this may be.

Good luck.

[Diane]

It doesn't seem like its twirling, the birds I have seen with twirling on youtube really have it bad to the point on not being able to stand. Very calm when compared to the other bird in the cage, as seems to be enjoying the warmth from the lamp.
For Airsac mite I treat with moxidectin plus, this will also treat some worms too, but as you have already applied some treatment if the bird were mine I would leave it for a while to see how things progress.

[BENSONSAN]

All I can say is keep the bird warm also try using a vitamin supplemeant as alot of these pet shop birds have had no sun and just dry seed for a long time. Also as bb said moxidectin is great for air sac mite treatmeant

[finchbreeder]

The mention of lack of sunlight for pet shop birds leads me to ask? Are those birds getting sunshine at any time? And just a suggestion but I would replace your plastic perches with natural twigs. And then you can just chuck them in the fire every 10 days. So much easier to clean with sick birds.
LML

[Fuyutski]

Thanks everyone for your input.

While she still seems to be puffed up a bit, her original symptoms for her possible Air-Sac Mite infection have died down, which is a good thing. Due to her sometimes rapid head movement, also not as bad as previously, it made me thing that she was undergoing the initial stage of a possible twirling issue, but so far so good. Other than her being somewhat fluffed up, her defecation seems to be very wet as it creates a circular wet patch on the newspaper around the actual poop.

I've still been giving the indoor finches Soulvet-Plus and the Avi-Cal, as well as the desk lamp during the day, and it seems to be going well.

The mention of lack of sunlight for pet shop birds leads me to ask? Are those birds getting sunshine at any time? And just a suggestion but I would replace your plastic perches with natural twigs. And then you can just chuck them in the fire every 10 days. So much easier to clean with sick birds.
LML

Unfortunately they're not getting sunshine at all, I've been trying to supplement the lack of sun with Avi-Cal (which provides both Calcium and Vitamin D), a desk lamp for warmth, and a cuttlebone, though the Gouldians don't seem to really touch that or the egg-mix I make up, interestingly.

Thanks for the suggestion concerning using twigs, I very well might do that.

Just to ask one of you more knowledgeable types, what's the best way to dispense the 'Poly-aid plus with probotics'? I must admit I find the instructions somewhat vague, and don't wish to dispense it improperly, I've tried mixing it in the seed, and also alone in a bottlecap. Is there perhaps a better way?