Respiratory infection or air sac mites?

Paulie · Post by **Paulie** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:47 am

Hi i was just wondering if some people can provide information in the difference of symptoms between a respiratory infection and air sac mites?

i have a male gouldian that has trouble singing and kind of gurgles/croaks, but he can still make audible chirrup type sounds. He doesnt display any open mouth breathing and doesnt struggle with breathing altogther, however he does sometimes goes through the motions of regurgitating without regurgitating and does make very faint clicking noises sporadically, not all the time, just sometimes.
He is usually active and loves jumping from perch to perch and even chases the female alot, so he's full of energy, but he likes to sit in the nestbox at times for long intervals.

Question is, what's wrong with my bird?

poohbear · Post by **poohbear** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:54 am

No idea without observing the bird...but...I wouldn't over worry if the bird is active and eating ok.
Spends a lot of time in the nest?? Is he building a nest perchance?
Paul.

Post by **Sally** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:15 pm

Do you have your birds on a regular preventative program? I treat mine every three months, and have had no problems. The fact that you can hear clicking sounds makes me think air sac mites, but then he appears to be very healthy. Personally, I would treat him with Scatt, just in case.

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:18 pm

I treat mine oncea month with s76. I use it has a prevenative and it also worms the birds if you feed them live insect food. I also treat any new birds I aquire with this. I think you might need to treat them just to be on the safe side. I have a female gouldian that I have adopted back from a friend. I gave her the bird from one of my clutches and it has never been around any other birds so I do not think it could have possible contacted air sac mites. But it was doing somewhat like your have described. I treat it twice and it is much better now.

TammyS · Post by **TammyS** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:54 am

You have gotten great advice! I completely agree...if you have never treated your birds for air sac mites either as a preventative or during quarantine if you purchased them - then you should treat them now.

I treat my birds twice per year (they are kept indoors). Once before breeding season and then after the molt.

Paulie · Post by **Paulie** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:39 am

thank you all for the great advice, its been very helpful! I had suspected air sac mites, but without a consistent, loud 'clicking' noise i was not sure.

however my problem here in australia is that 'scatt/S76' is not a readily available product, its not sold commercially and ivermectin is sold only in large quantities for sheep/horses etc

what remains is for me to now locate an avian vet in my area as the only solution!

new question: how long does it take before air sac mites symptoms worsen and prove to be detrimental?

Post by **Sally** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:43 am

Paulie, do a search for Vetafarm. They make all kinds of avian products, and they are based in Australia. They have 2 different websites, and I could only connect to the international site, which is for all others except Australia. I think this is their Australian website:

www.vetafarm.com.au

In fact, I just checked my bottle of Scatt, and it is made by Vetafarm. Here is their address and phone number:

3 Bye Street, Wagga Wagga
NSW 2650 Australia
(02) 6925 6222

Paulie · Post by **Paulie** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 12:53 am

Thanks Sally, i've already tried and Vetafarm have explained that they can only export scatt and not sell it locally. Thanks for the advice though

Post by **Sally** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 12:56 pm

It never occurred to me that Vetafarm would produce a product that would be unavailable in Australia! There must be much stricter laws governing medications in your country. There are quite a few Aussies on this forum, so hopefully, one of them will have some better advice for you.

Paulie · Post by **Paulie** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:56 am

UPDATE:

as it turned out, my lil guy had just a respiratory infection....treated with a broad spectrum anti-biotic....he's all well and good now and pursues his lady with even more vigour...LOL

Christopher Smith · Post by **Christopher Smith** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:33 pm

Good news!

Did you find out the cause of the infection? Finding the cause is almost as important as curing your bird, IMO