FINCHforum

I have had several birds (a canary, three Societies, a Bourke's parakeet, and two parrotlets) in quarantine for a month now. This week, I decided to give what I thought was a preventative air sac treatment of S76 to all my birds, including my regular crew, minus the parrotlets.

I got the treatment from Laraine's LadyGouldian.com, which I have read about on this site, and followed the in-water dosages exactly using a syringe. (My budgies and the Bourke need a higher dose, according to the directions.)

All went fine, except after the second treatment, one Society started exhibiting symptoms of air sac mites, which I had not seen before. He was puffed up, breathing rapidly with his mouth open, and possibly clicking, though I couldn't hear it, just see it. This was last night before I went to bed.

This morning, he looks much better, but still slightly puffy. He is eating and drinking, and the poop in the cage looks normal.

Would it seem that he did have air sac mites and that his condition last night suggests they were all dying off and clogging up his airway? If he is better now, should I leave well enough alone or do something else? Should I move him into a hospital cage with a heat lamp? What about the other two Societies in his quarantine cage, and what about the other birds in the room, especially the canary, who occupies the cage right beneath the Societies?

Thanks for any advice!

Societies tend to drink more water than most species and he may have taken more ivermectin in than other birds/species.... a topical might be better to use on societies. Oral ivermectin can be somewhat irritating to the the throat.

Did he have an active case of ASM?

If these are new birds he may have something else underlying going on.

Thanks for the reply, cindy. I have actually had them in quarantine for five weeks now.

I did not see any problem with any of the societies until last night.

What I did see from the one jibes with a case of ASM, but I really don't know. The others still seem normal. The one that was ailing is slightly puffy but now breathing normally. I am debating whether to pull him out and put him in a small cage under a heat lamp. Not sure if that will cause more stress than good.

I did wonder if he might have OD'ed on the Ivermectin in the water possibily because he might have taken a long bath, since I (perhaps unwisely) used the S76 treated water to fill their bath.

The initial treatment is done. I dread having to individually catch each of my Societies in the giant (30"x80"x72") cage that I have the flock in! I had no idea that they drank more than other finches. Valuable info.

in the future do not give them baths when doing preventative....only use it in the drinking water.

Once you have treated birds in quarantine, no need to re treat with mite preventatives/treatments unless you introduce a bird carrying mites, not treated preventatively into the flock then you have to retreat everyone again.

ivermectin stays in the body for about 4 or 5 days... I would let them rest, not treat with anything else until after that has a chance to clear out of their systems. Watch the one that had issues.