Air sac mites in Gouldians

[Trecorum]

I've only had my two gouldians for little over a month and within a few days I had suspected they had air sac mites. I noticed the following symptoms, especially in the male:

• A crackly chirp
• Coughing sound
• Constant wiping of the beak on the perches
• Visible chest movement from breathing, along with tail bobbing
• Open mouth breathing

I took the cock bird (Earl) to the vet the following week and she applied a drop of Ivomec to the skin between the feathers on the back of his head. I was to apply the ointment to the female bird myself when I got home and follow up the treatment with a second drop in two weeks time.

I have been cleaning the perches with vinegar to kill any residual mites that might be lurking there.

But the birds don't seem healthy, even after the second application of Ivomec. In fact, they seem to be getting worse - especially the male. He's making wheezing sounds all the time, coughs more frequently and spends much of his time sitting at the bottom of the cage with his eyes closed.

Does anyone know what I can do? Should I just hope for the best?

Here is a picture of Earl:

[L in Ontario]

Hi Trecorum, He is a beautiful bird! I would have him in a small hospital cage and put a heatlamp very close and pointing to one end of the perch (low in the cage); so that he can get extra heat when he wants but also able to move away from the heat when he doesn't need it. Otherwise make sure he has fresh water and seeds (look closely at the seeds and make sure it's not just the empty hulls). A millet spray as well near or on the bottom of the cage. You can cover the small cage with a towel to help hold the heat in. Best wishes and do keep us posted.

[nixity]

Keep in mind if the bird(s) do have an air sac mite infection, the treatment for the mites might not necessarily be enough.
Often, the mites can cause secondary respiratory infections so even if you treat the mites, the respiratory infection will still be there and you won't see results without also treating for the respiratory infection.

Alternatively, it could have been a respiratory infection to begin with, and never an ASM infection, in which case the ASM treatment would not work.

[Trecorum]

Thanks for the tips.

I'm concerned about moving them in to smaller cages because I don't want to stress them out. I don't want to inadvertently make them worse by trying to help them.

Maybe I should take them to the vet again and see what they say.

[Trecorum]

He seems to be getting even worse!

I just made a video of the bird's breathing to show here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A6gXohavl4

I think in the morning I will call the vet. Does his condition appear grave to you?

[akidsgal]

Wow is all I can say. But if he is struggling like that all the time there IS reason to see a vet. I hope that your vet is familiar with the small birds. So many are just familiar with the larger ones. Best of prayers from me to your little man and lady....

[nixity]

Yikes - that doesn't sound good at all..

Another thing is that when a bird has an air sac mite infection/infestation, the treatment usually kills a large number of mites at once and this can actually make the birds breathing worse because the dead mites clog the air ways and the bird tries to cough to release them.

I would take him back, he doesn't necessarily look grave, but he sure sounds it :\
When you bring him back - bring up the secondary infection and see if she will prescribe you an antibiotic, especially now if the mites are dying in droves and the bird can't expel them all, this becomes an even bigger concern.

[Sally]

I've never seen a Gouldian with ASM, but he sure does match the descriptions you see online. It does sound like he might have a lot of dead mites to deal with. Hope your vet can help you with this. Since this topic is about ASM, I'm going to move it to Health.

[Meagan83]

Any new developments on this? How is he doing?

[Trecorum]

Sorry for the late reply - I'm happy to say that he has really made a huge turnaround. He doesn't seem perfect but he is definitely on the road to recovery! I guess that the problem - as suggested - was that there were a lot of dead mites that needed to be cleared out of his respiratory system.

I think they should get one last dose of the medicine to be certain the mites are well and truly gone. I have been stringently cleaning the perches with vinegar and making sure they get fresh seeds and water every day, I would say that is helping as well.

[Ursula]

I'm glad your bird is doing much better!

I've never seen a bird with ASM either and watched the video. It's very helpful to know what to look out for and how it really sounds. (Even if you know it's a "clicking noise" you wonder how that really sounds like.) Thanks for posting the video, I'm sure it will be helpful for others to compare their birds' symptoms!

[lea]

how does he cleaned his respiratory system? or veterinarian does somehow?

[CandoAviary]

You can see ASM if you wet the throat area. the mites are visible through the skin. If you don't see the mite then suspect a respiratory infection or fungal infection next.