FINCHforum

When we brought our goulds home last weekend, they seemed fine, eating, drinking and the male sang. After about 2 days he started to puff up, although not dramatically just a little off. I added some heat. I was already giving them Guardian ANgel to help with the stress. He still hasn't sung again and has not stopped eating or drinking. He's active. His poop looks sort of "grainy". That's the only way I can think of to describe it. I tried looking at it with a magnifying glass (parasite?)but I really would need a microscope. (not one handy) He's also got some pin feathers coming in, more so in the last few days. Does stress cause them to molt? There aren't any feathers in the cage, loose ones I mean. I treated both with scatt 2 days and I think I may treat with S76 tomorrow. Any ideas?

Scatt should only be applied once, then again in 21 days if you think you still have mites. I wouldn't add the S76 on top of two applications since last weekend. Stress will cause a molt, and he may still be adjusting to his new home. I would watch him. Is he really eating excessively? If so, it could be a yeast problem - candida or AGY (avian gastric yeast). Stress, fluffed and the grainy poop along with the visits to the seed dish seem to point this way in my opinion.

Hillary, is a yeast problem the same as "going light"?

I had 3 birds gone light on me but I was able to successfully treat them by increasing the heat and providing NV powder, if it continues to get worse then I add anti biotics as a last resort and it works.

I think of "going light" as a symptom rather than a disease. The loss in weight can be caused by any number of problems.

I applied the Scattonce, sorry for the misunderstanding. And I don't think he's eating excessively. You've seen "grainy poop" before? That was a new one for me.

I haven't, but one of the symptoms of a yeast problem is undigested bits on seed in the droppings according to what I've read. If he's not eating excessively that's a good sign.