What to do when the vet doesn't know what's wrong?

[cassioppea]

Please help, those of you out there with more practical knowledge than the vet here in Tucson!
I have lost an excruciating amount of gouldian finches, more are getting sick every day. I'm down to just 6 from 22. I had a female get sick, so off to the vet we went. She showed signs of lethargy but had just weaned a clutch so I wasn't overly concerned and thought some hospital time and supplements would put her to rights. The poop was what caught my attention, it was bright yellow. That's when we went to the vet. He did smears and samples, couldn't find anything conclusive. Maybe campylobacter? So we started treatment of her and now another female was ill. By the time I got home two males were dead on the bottom of the aviary. The girls died within a day of each other. New symptom popped up right before they died they were pooping blood. Other noticeable symptoms were the need for very warm hospital cage and they ate constantly? Clearly the poop was the key, but the doc said there were no parasites or yeast he could see. Only one other element came to mind... I was using the pine pellets that petsmart had in the bottom of their cages. When water splashes on it they swell and granulate. Possibly they had eaten some and it damaged their intestines? I removed all of that immediately just in case. Any advice would be appreciated! The worst is watching them get sicker every day? Now my canary is sick too?

[Bhatta]

So sorry for your loss. The symptoms indicating towards protozoa infection. Let others comment.

[debbie276]

First I would remove any and all pine from their cages and give them a good wiping down. What did you already treat with? Does the poop smell? Is the poop solid, watery or tacky?

[cindy]

With that number of birds passing it might be wise to have a necropsy done. But in this case time is of the essence, discuss this with the vet. I doubt it is the pine it sounds more like something that is being transmitted. I would definitely remove it though and place white paper or white paper towels down, monitor the droppings and if you can photograph the droppings and post it for us. The fact that there is blood indicates something is wrong internally within the digestive tract.

Any difficulty breathing besides the lethargy? I am thinking either parasite, bacteria, virus.

Birds indoors or out, feeding boiled eggfood (how long is it left down)

http://www.ladygouldianfinch.com/features_poopology.php

This article is excellent and offers more of an explanations

http://www.mfgouldianfinches.com/Poopol ... gyPg1.html

it mentions yellow droppings.

[cassioppea]

They are housed indoors in a 6'x4'x2' aviary. I've completely removed everything from the bottom except paper. The pine is all gone. The vet did discuss a necropsy.. None have died to send off since we spoke about it. The others had been dead too long when he offered that. He is not a bird vet exclusively. The one we had in town closed up a couple years ago.
We've tried a couple of meds so far;
Duramycin-10 for 7 days
Coccidiostat for 5 days
Spectovet 2 days now


The poop is really gritty with yellowey fluid
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Christi

[debbie276]

You may want to contact Laraine at https://ladygouldian.com/ she may have an idea what it could be. If not she can consult Dr Rob Marshall, worth a try.

[cindy]

Are you feeding charcoal...if so you need to remove it from the cage while medicating.

[cassioppea]

No charcoal, no eggs, but they did relish some dry egg food and broccoli. I'm not sure what would help or make it worse?