Canary breathing and a lost Gouldian chick

[chargers17]

Hi Everyone,
I have been trying to deal with a puzzling problem recently. My female canary has been having issues breathing. It started with lots of sneezing and has now included tail bobbing, wheezing, fluffing up but no nasal discharge or other symptoms. She still east and drinks fine and is not lethargic. She has had these symptoms for 6 months now, I moved her to see if it was environmental, took her to the vet etc. and no one knows what is going on. Any ideas? What worries me is now some other finches have started the sneezing.

I also recently lost a Gouldian chick thought it was not a huge surprise. The chick had been acting strangely for a while. He stayed on the bottom of the cage and seemed to have a lot of trouble landing. I would watch him fly around the aviary but he seemed unable to land on a branch. I wasn't worried at first but this continued for 3 weeks. When I removed him I noticed his crop was empty and I was wondering if his parents stopped feeding him?

I worried the death was linked to the illness from the other finches but the chick showed no symptoms. I am just a little puzzled.

[Fraza]

chargers17 well I’m guessing with the gouldians maybe the parents are ill and they aren’t fit enough to feed the chick but if this illness is spreading through your aviary I think you need to find a medication to fix it there is some liquids you can buy and just add the the drinking water to help with vitamins and general healthy which may help them all fight it off, hope this helps

[Icearstorm]

chargers17

Have you treated for air sac mites? The medicine (Ivermectin, S76, or SCATT) is safe so long as it is the right dosage, so it is fine to treat adults preventatively (it's recommended that birds are at least three months old).

I had a juvenile gouldian finch die because it couldn't figure out how to drink, despite being fed by its mother for a month longer than it should have needed. Sometimes birds can be mentally handicapped. It's still a good idea to monitor the others for signs of illness, even if whatever the issue with the gouldian was won't put other birds at risk.

[chargers17]

Thanks I will give it a shot, where can I get Ivermectin?

[Icearstorm]

chargers17

I ordered mine online, though it took a few days to arrive. If things are looking bad, I'd highly recommend overnight shipping so it arrives in time.
If you can't find any canary- or finch-specific air sac mite treatment, you can use Ivermectin marketed for different animals, though it would have to be diluted a lot to be safe for small birds (and it would have to be diluted precisely, so it's not recommended).