FINCHforum

Recently a few of my adult gouldians look swollen of puffed up in the breast area. Almost to the extent that the breast feathers touch the underside of the mandible.
They sit and sleep a lot and and are generally lethargic.
Their feathers are not nice and smooth.
Any adeas and advice?

Let's see....

Do they have any breathing issues? Labored breathing? Discharge?

How does the poop look? Normal or watery?
If it looks abnormal, there could be a protozoal issue.

Is there a chance they could have been exposed to air sac mites? If so, I might check them by wetting the neck/upper chest feathers with a damp cotton ball, then trans-illuminate the area with a powerful pen light. You'll see little black specks if there is ASM.

If it's just a general unwellness and they're getting worse, but you can't seem to pinpoint anything, I might consider a broad-spectrum antibiotic to see if you have any improvement. A bit of a last-ditch option and definitely not ideal, but an option nevertheless.

Ideally, I might consider a trip to the vet since you have multiples affected here.

Miacarter,
Little bit difficult breathing.
Poop normal.
The ones that i caught "clicking" sounds.
Transilluminating the trachea shows black spots.
I did medicate them yesterday with Abamectin [3rd generation like Moxydectin]

Thanks for the reply.

Christo, are they molting? Now is the season for gouldian's to molt in the southern hemisphere.

Mine are in various stages and some of them look like they could be dying (puffed up, lethargic etc) but I know it is just strain from the molt. Mine also go through a lot of egg food while molting, extra protein is appreciated for new feather growth.

Are you sure abamectin is for treating air sac mites ? only reference i could find about it was an article listing it as an alternative wormer ( contained in Equimax Liquid Allwormer for horses )

http://www.cliftonfinchaviaries.org/cfa ... orming.htm

http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/ex ... n-ext.html

Abamectin is a mixture of avermectins containing > 80% avermectin B1a and < 20% avermectin B1b (1). These two components, B1a and B1b have very similar biological and toxicological properties (5). The avermectins are insecticidal or anthelmintic compounds derived from the soil bacterium Streptomyces avermitilis (2). Abamectin is a natural fermentation product of this bacterium (5). Abamectin is used to control insect and mite pests of a range of agronomic, fruit, vegetable and ornamental crops, and it is used by homeowners for control of fire ants (5). Doses of 50 to 200 ug/kg of ivermectin, a similar member of the avermectin family of comounds, is widely used to treat humans in the World Health Organization onchocerciasis (river blindness) program

Effects on Birds
Abamectin is relatively non-toxic to birds (7). The LD50 for abamectin in Bobwhite quail is 2,000 mg/kg. When exposed to abamectin in their feed for 5 days, the LC50 for bobwhite quail was 3,102 ppm, and for mallard ducks was 383 ppm. There were no adverse effects on reproduction when mallard ducks were fed dietary doses of 3, 6 or 12 ppm for 18 weeks

Avermectin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avermectin
Other anthelmintics derived from the avermectins include ivermectin, selamectin, doramectin and abamectin.

Seems that ivermectin, which is well know to treat ASM is derived from avermectin

Roxanne,
Yes they are in the molt. I think that is probably the cause of their "off" look.
Lots of new feathers.
I will certainly step up the eggfood.
Thanks for pointing that out to me.

Regards

Glad I could help