FINCHforum

Okay, so some background first. I got my first pair of finches around 3 weeks ago from a local breeder - one male RH,PB,GB and one uncolored gouldian. The next week I decided to go purchase a pair of RCCB from a pet store. I immediately put them into the same cage together. Which I now know wasn't a good idea. NOW the male RCCB is sick - the other three birds are showing no signs of illness. He seemed fine for the first week. Then on Sunday I noticed that he was just sleeping most of the day and only waking up to eat and drink several times a day. His symptoms are the same 5 days later - eyes closed, puffed up, sleeping except to eat and drink, and seems weak. I have a quarantine kit in the mail and should be arriving tomorrow. It includes Amoxitex (which I plan on putting him through a full treatment when it arrives), QuikGel, Ronex, S76, Worm Away, and Avian Insect Liquidator.

Right now the sick RCCB is still in the cage with the rest of the birds I did not want to stress him out more by moving him.

Here are my questions.

1) When the quarantine kit comes should I take the sick bird out and put in a separate cage to treat him?
2) Should I treat all of the birds with the Amoxitex?
3) Any other advice or treatments I should give to the sick bird and/or the other three birds?

Please help, don't want to lose him... or any of my other birds....

before medicine: separate cage, heat lamp on one side and use white paper so you can check for normal droppings. Ronex worked for my Red cheek. Keep the water clean.

I agree with procfamily. I would take the sick RCCB out now, put him in a separate cage away from all the others. Heat lamps do wonders, if you don't have one, you can use a normal gooseneck desk lamp with a 60w bulb. Aim it at one end of the hospital cage, sick birds need to stay warm.

procfamily wrote: before medicine: separate cage, heat lamp on one side and use white paper so you can check for normal droppings. Ronex worked for my Red cheek. Keep the water clean.

So do you suggest starting treatment with Ronex instead of the Amoxitex? Is it safe to treat with Amoxitex immediately after the Ronex if there are no signs of improvement?

I'm not sure. But that is what I would do. Lots of info on Ladygouldian finch.com

Definitely separate the sick bird. Aside from possibly spreading the illness, birds also will tend to pick on sick or weaker birds. I've had sick birds always isolated. At my vets, they place them in a warm environment which really helps. I can't help you with the antiobiotics, but I've had to give previous antiobiotics from my vet when my birds have got sick, and I can't get them to the vet straight away. As long as the vet knows what you have given, it should be fine (if you need to go to the vet).