Could someone tell me what is AGY (someone mentioned it in another topic)? Is it same as megabacteriosis?

 

I need some advice... I have two one-year-old budgies, that have been ill recently. They both had french moult as chicks probably. Not for sure, but probably. Their feathers fell off from their tails and wings, in other words tails and wings were too short. The hen couldn't fly at all until the age of about three months.

The feathers grew okay, and I thought they were fine.

 

Last spring I consulted an avian vet, because the birds started vomitting. I've had probiotics in their drinking water since, and I've restricted the amount of fresh food. I gave them some iodine (for two weeks) in their drinking water to make sure that they don't suffer from qoitre. I've also tried antibiotics (Doxycyclin. hycl.) two times. The antibiotics seem to help, the vomitting ends quickly and the birds get back their strength to fly and play (and chirp). But after a while they start vomitting again. If I don't give antibiotics, the "disease" stays longer (they vomit for few weeks every other day) but they eventually get better. They always stay healthy from two weeks to two months, but after that the vomitting starts again.

 

The birds look fine to me, they are only fluffy sleepy and quiet after they have vomitted. If it happens at night, they are quiet in the morning and normal in the next evening. Sometimes they vomit (I can see that from their headfeathers) but are normal chirpy birds full of energy. They also become very tame and brave, and have a huge appetite when they are sick (I've read this is normal when the bird is ill). Is it cruel to keep them alive or should they be put to sleep?

 

Has anyone had birds with same symptoms? Does the french moult have something to do with this vomitting? The situation is that you can't study what causes the vomitting and the only medicine you can get for birds from a vet is antibiotics. If the birds die, it may be possible to find out the name of the disease if you send the birds to autopsy.

 

Please advice me if you know anything about these diseases. I love my birds very much and I want to know if there's any hope for them to get better. :dbb1:

 

okay, I found out that AGY is avian gastric yeast. Is megabacteriosis also caused by fungus? Wouldn't antibiotics make the birds worse then? I thought it had helped them...

Edited October 26, 200618 yr by Parus major

Hi

 

AGY and megabacteria are the same thing. AGY is the newer name for megabacteria. They changed the name as it was originally thought to be a bacteria but it is a fungus. Here are a couple of sites with some information on symptoms and diagnosis.

 

http://www.talltree.net/birds/megabacteria.html

 

http://www.tri-statebudgie.org/megabac%20final.html

 

I had one budgie die from this and the vet sent his body away for a necropsy (which is a bird autopsy) on him and the result was AGY/megabacteria. Because of this information, I keep Megabac-S on hand and treat my birds with it in their drinking water. I am not an expert on this so I can't tell you what to do, but I would definitely recommend another avian vet visit and perhaps they can diagnose this through a crop wash or fecal test.

Thanks for replying...

 

Megabac-S is not available in Finland. I will call for another opinion but I don't think it will change anything.

 

The symptoms of AGY seem similar to my birds symptoms. They are very hungry after they vomit. And if the antibiotics largen the growth of the fungus, the disease should get worse soon. They don't seem to have lost weigh yet.

Thanks for replying...

 

Megabac-S is not available in Finland. I will call for another opinion but I don't think it will change anything.

 

The symptoms of AGY seem similar to my birds symptoms. They are very hungry after they vomit. And if the antibiotics largen the growth of the fungus, the disease should get worse soon. They don't seem to have lost weigh yet.

 

Hi again, I'm sorry to hear it isn't available in Finland but does that mean that you can't order it from another country and have it mailed to you? I was able to order mine from E & R Exotic Birds and Supplies in Toronto. Maybe you could inquire if they could ship it to you? Or perhaps somewhere in Europe you could order it? I'm not sure what the import rules are for something like this, but they consider it a "supplement" here and thus are able to import it. But maybe it would be worth the inquiry?

 

It's good that they haven't lost weight. I hope that you get the help that you need very soon.

 

Maureena