FINCHforum

Hello everyone.
Could anyone tell me what this strange growth on my Gouldian is? It doesn't seem to be bothering him at all, but it just doesn't seem right. Is this some kind of infection on his nostrils? Has anyone else seen this? And how do I treat it?

Your feedback is truly appreciated.

It's a little hard to tell from that photo (another one looking down onto the nostril may be helpful).

IF that white stuff is coming from the nostril, then it is probably sinusitis as you suspected.

During my avian veterinary externship, I recently saw sinusitis in a shaft-tail finch (the left nostril was affected and appeared to be filled with a cheesy 'pus' plug). The treatment in that case was to gently remove the plug (which revealed just how gaping the nostril had become--there was a LOT of pus in there!), physically clean out the sinus/nostril with a very tiny spatula-like tool, flush the sinus with saline (obviously in such a way that the bird will not inhale the flush), and then apply a certain amount (relative to body weight and the formulation of the drug) of a special prescription opthalmic antibiotic liquid (drops) into the affected nostril daily.

It is also sometimes recommended to culture the contents of the nostril/sinus to make sure that the antibiotic selected is the right spectrum. If culture is indicated, each nostril needs to be cultured separately since the sinuses do not communicate in finches.

I don't recommend trying to do any of this at home as it is a somewhat delicate procedure requiring specialty tools and a prescription medication. Systemic (oral or injectable) antibiotics alone probably will not reach high enough levels in the sinus to significantly help. You'll need to seek veterinary care for an effective treatment.

Additionally, if it is not sinusitis, a veterinary exam (and possibly some testing) may be required to find out what that "strange growth" really is so it may be treated appropriately (if a treatment is available).