What is normal? Air Sac Mite Treament-Side effects/reaction?

[amber_d]

I have 7 zebra finches and 4 2-week old babies. I suspected air sac mites when the male I had been previously nursing back to health (after it got out and my stupid cat bit it with antibiotics etc., and I had to take him back and forth from the vet) started bobbing his tail and his breathing was different. I had a local avian enthusiast (who has/breeds many birds) come and treat them for air sac mites (on Monday July 28).
The last few days, I have noticed that one of my females is sitting on top of her house, and she is constantly inflated. She seems lethargic....
Has anyone had experience with air sac mite treatment, where something like this happened?
What is normal?
Should I take her to the vet?

[finchmix22]

If you hold the finch close to your ear, you'll hear a clicking sound as they breathe. That would be ASM. The hen may have an infection too, so either way, give her a heat lamp on one side of the cage, so she can get away from the heat if its too much. The heat helps them save their energy to stay warm, so they can focus on healing. If she is with a male, she could be eggbound. Then, I'd put her in a small cage in the bathroom and run the shower on hot to create steam and a humid room. Then, give her Calcium Plus one drop to the beak every hour until she passes the egg. Eggbinding can kill quickly so give her the Calcium now as that won't hurt her and could save her life. If she has not been treated for ASM, treat for that as well. Both treatments are preventative.

[wildbird]

The male probably had an infection from the cat bite. The symptoms of air sac mites usually involves coughing or sneezing & respiratory problems. It doesn't sound like that to me in either one.

[amber_d]

There was clicking sounds coming from 2. The male that got bit (treated for 14 days 2x a day, been off antibiotics for 3 weeks, he is acting normal) and the female he says with. After the ASM treatment, the male was open mouth breathing with his wings dropped for a bit... she seemed ok until the next day.... then she was fatigued and fluffed.
I just want to know if this commonly happens/ if someone has had this happen after treating zebras for ASM, or if this is abnormal and if there is something else I need to address.
I have a heating lamp near the cage, and boiled water for humidity.

[debbie276]

Which ASM treatment have you used?
A clicking sound can be many things especially respiratory infection.
I can't really follow your timeline but if the antibiotics helped the male it was NOT ASM. If you treat for ASM they should not look worse, they should improve in 24 hours so I would suspect something else.
You can confirm ASM by wetting the feathers on the neck with alcohol and transilluminating the trachea with a bright penlight. This procedure is best performed in a darkened room. With normal vision, the mites can be seen as dark, pinhead size, moving spots in the trachea.

best of luck

[finchmix22]

Which way did you treat for ASM? I use S76 in the water or Ivermectin on a cotton swab to the back of the neck or on the thigh, underneath the feathers. If a finch had a bad case of ASM, the treatment can be deadly, as all the mites die at once and sometimes get stuck in the throat. However, if they had a respiratory infection, they'd have trouble breathing too. If the male was treated with antibiotics and got better, he may have a parasite. Did you treat with Probiotics after the antibiotics? They need that to restore the gut flora afterwards.

[amber_d]

finchmix22 What do I use for probiotics and where do I get it?
@debbie276 It was 3 weeks after his 14 day antibiotic treatment that I noticed clicking, and my female was clicking after ASM treatment. I'm not sure what she used, but she got it mixed fresh in Montreal for her birds that she breeds. It was a topical treament

[wildbird]

Sorry, I accidentally clicked that post.

[debbie276]

Scatt is a one time treatment because it stays active in their system for 21 days but it doesn't get "mixed fresh". S76, iverlux, ivermectin can be mixed in water or applied directly but must be repeated for several treatments because it only stays active for several hours.
Not knowing which meds they were given it may be a possible reaction to the meds. Like I said ASM treatment should not make them worse.
I would watch for other symptoms, add heat and hard boiled eggs.

good luck

[MiaCarter]

I think the others covered everything quite nicely.

The only thing I'd add is that sometimes, if they have a severe infestation, they may get worse before they get better. There's a massive die-off of the mites and they can clog the airways as they're getting flushed out. So it can take a few days to see improvement.

That also places them at risk for a respiratory infection, so I always treat them with antibiotics too if they start to seem like they're struggling.

Some are more conservative with antibiotics, but I've lost a foster when we treated for ASM after a severe infestation. So I tend to treat when maybe others wouldn't (and it's a philosophy my vet shares, so).

You mentioned clicking in both, so that definitely sounds like something respiratory (vs. a lingering infection from the cat bite --- incredible he survived, by the way! Cat bites are known as the kiss of death in birds; the mortality rate is super high.)
It's possible they never had ASM; maybe they only ever had a respiratory infection, which is why they may get worse after treatment as you treated for the wrong thing. (You can usually see ASM, as Debbie mentioned).

Hopefully some antibiotics should do the trick!