Help!!! Aiir Sac Mites???

[Olympic_Aiairies]

I acquired a BC zebra hen yesterday from a pet store. I was really excited about my find but last night I went to check my birds before bed and I heard a faint clicking that didn't sound normal. So a stuck my ear to each cage to see where it was coming from and it turns out it was my new hen. Glad she's isolated I her own cage right now. Thing is she's not puffed up and is really active beeping at the other males because she's alone. Is it air sac mites? I've done lots of reading on it but haven't ever had a bird with it before so I'm unsure. If it is do I have time to order meds from Lady Gouldian?? It's the only place I know where to get them from. Or does anyone know where to buy treatment in Calgary, AB?

[delray]

Youcan see now how important quarantine is now!!!' Glad becayse if you put her right in you could have infected your whole flock !!!! Good luck.

[Sally]

Debbie276 has posted this method of detecting ASM, you could try this. Clicking can be from things other than ASM, such as a respiratory infection. And random clicking could be nothing. As part of quarantine procedure, I always treat each bird with SCATT. It is a good medication to keep on hand for quarantine, plus it can treat both ASM and external mites.

There is a way to visually confirm if your birds has ASM by wetting the feathers on the neck with alcohol and transilluminating the trachea with a bright penlight. This procedure is best performed in a darkened room. With normal vision, the mites can be seen as dark, pinhead size, moving spots in the trachea.

[Olympic_Aiairies]

Dang I don't have a pen light. Since the only symptom is the clicking if it is air sac mites do I have a few days to get the S76? To treat her? She's still acting fine. I'm going together a heat lamp just in case though.

[delray]

Good luck !!!!

[wildbird]

If it is the beak that is clicking, that is just behavioral. Mine do that sometimes.

[Sally]

Yes, you have time to get the medication. SCATT is effective for 21 days, so one treatment pretty much covers the life cycle of air sac mites. S76 does not stay effective for as long, so it has to be administered in the water for 2 days each week for three weeks. SCATT is very easy to administer to one bird, S76 is great if you have to treat a lot of birds.

[Olympic_Aiairies]

Thanks!! I found a local (within 4hrs) supplier so hopefully I can get them to ship me some over night.

Don't think it's behavioral. Her beak is fully closed and you can still hear the clicking.

[Olympic_Aiairies]

Ok I need some more advise. I have never had to deal with air sac mites before so I'm a bit at a loss. I treated her with a course of S76 but didn't like that I wasn't seeing much improvement even after the treatment so I treated her and my whole flock (preventative) with AIL. It's been almost a week since the AIL treatment and I'm wondering how long I should wait before treating again? There has been some improvement. She's not breathing as hard, is less puffed, and a little more active but is still clicking when she breaths. Any advice is appreciated.

[Sally]

S76 is given for two days in a row, and then repeated for two more weeks, for a total of 6 treatments over three weeks. SCATT is given once, and can be repeated in three weeks. AIL will affect anything outside the body, but will have no effect on anything inside the body.

Are you sure it is air sac mites? Could it be a respiratory infection instead, which is often mistaken for air sac mites?

[Olympic_Aiairies]

I'm not 100% sure it is air sac mites but she has the classic symptoms and the clicking and her breathing is getting better. Maybe I'll give her a bit more time. The instructions I got with the S76 were nothing like you described. It said treat on the bird 2 days and then 7 days in their water. Is that wrong? Maybe that's why she got somewhat better but not fully?

[finchmix22]

Follow the instructions on the bottle. You can administer the active ingredient, which is Ivermectin, to the thigh or put in water for two days at a time, as Sally mentioned. I prefer to put a dab with a cotton ball on the skin of the thigh or back of the neck, to make sure they get the medication. Then, the medication starts to work and you treat again, so the drug kills any eggs/larvae etc. The first dose kills adults only. This is due to the breeding cycle of ASM.

[Olympic_Aiairies]

The clicking is getting better! It's only off and on now. That's a good sign right? She has started breathing more with her beak open though. Hoping its because they the mites are dying but hopefully there aren't too many of them.

[Sally]

The instructions I got with the S76 were nothing like you described. It said treat on the bird 2 days and then 7 days in their water. Is that wrong? Maybe that's why she got somewhat better but not fully?

My bottle is pretty old, it just gives the dilution rates for putting it in the water and says to go to Dr. Marshall's site for instructions I've always just gone by the instructions that are on the ladygouldian.com website, which don't really give instructions for putting it directly on the bird for air sac mites.

[debbie276]

For direct application Laraine's ( https://ladygouldian.com/S76-air-sac-mite-treatment ) site says:
S76 is applied directly to the skin on the bird’s neck for 5 consecutive days.

In water:
...in-water treatment for air-sac mites with S76 is 2 consecutive days each week for 3 weeks in a row.

REMOVE ALL OTHER WATER SOURCES INCLUDING FRESH GREENS, FRUIT AND VEGETABLES ON THE DAYS OF S76 TREATMENT

MIX S76 FRESH EACH MORNING OF TREATMENT – DO NOT MIX A LARGE VOLUME AND HOLD IT FOR MULTIPLE DAY TREATMENTS. S76 is potent for only 8 hours once mixed into water

MIX ONLY ENOUGH FOR EACH 24 HOUR PERIOD TO AVOID WASTE

REMOVE ALL WATER VESSELS THE NIGHT BEFORE EACH S76 TREATMENT. THIS WILL ENSURE THAT ALL THE BIRDS ARE THIRSTY THE NEXT MORNING. IMMEDIATELY AFTER MIXING S76 EACH MORNING, REPLACE THE WATER VESSELS AND EACH BIRD WILL TAKE A BIG DRINK