okay, I will tell of the worst nightmare I have ever been through with my babies. It has taken me so long to get the intestinal fortitude to tell you guys as I was so stupid.

 

First of all, I take responsibility as I broke the first rule after buying a new bird: I did not quarantine him! I do not know why I didn't, I always have in the past. I have since learnt I cannot afford to forget!!

 

Anyway, I bought this cock Lutino in about Oct/Nov 03 (not sure exact timeline now) and as I said I did not quarantine him but put him straight into the aviary.

 

Back then I had about 15 breeding cabinets as well as my 2 aviaries. My birds are given a rest after each clutch and in summer I remove the nest boxes and put most of the birds in the main aviary.

 

I think it was around Nov/Dec 03 I noticed my first casualty, she was sitting on the floor all fluffed up with 3 cocks running around her trying to feed her. I went in and put her in the 'sick cage'. The next morning she had died.

 

2 days later I found another hen dead.

 

Over the next 6 months 17 birds died, 15 budgies & 2 Bourkes - no quail. Of the 17, 12 were female (I often wondered if this was significant).

 

I tried all manner of treatments, I changed their bedding, one time I put hay in and a stupid hen tried to swallow some and a piece got stuck in her throat and she died. Needless to say the hay was removed that day.

 

I took the birds to the vet and he said they were heat stressed. I asked friends on the PSOA website, and got some great advice.

 

The worst day was the day that I lost Grabfoot's identical sister (they were the only offspring of a super duper magnificient male I had). It was mothers day 04 and I had her out of the sick cage and she was crawling around my shoulders and snuggling into my neck. She squeaked at me, crawled down my chest into my lap and settled into my hands, nibbled my finger and died. I cried for half an hour (I am getting misty eyed typing this). I placed her body in an airtight container in the fridge and my mum took her to the vet for an autopsy the next day.

 

The result came in the next day: Megabacteriosis. I had never heard of this disease before and asked treatment, Megabac S & the only place that sold it charges $210 for a 40g bottle! I said hang the expense get it in!

 

It came express by courier the next day & I immediately made some up. I lost another couple of birds before the medicine took effect.

 

I went back to the store where I bought the cock bird from and told them what had happened. Their response? Ah well, we can't be responsible for what breeders sell us! Needless to say no more birds are bought from them!

 

I always have a supply of Megabac-S on hand now and regularly check my birds for symptoms. I buy it direct from the supplier and it only costs around $110 (vet marked up alot).

 

I'm sure there is heaps I haven't mentioned but my memory is not as good as it used to be and I've relayed it as I remember it. I apologise if I've rambled and/or some of it doesn't make sense.

 

Overall, I'd say the moral is: ALWAYS QUARANTINE

Edited May 6, 200718 yr by Elly

God!!! What a disaster!!!

im so sorry oyu had to learn it this way, and the loss of your poor budgies, but hopefully it will not be in vain and your message will hav ebeen taught now to other readers

Love Dawn

Karen, you poor thing. I'm sure it got so traumatic you were scared to check on them. Lots of hugs going your way

It was a very traumatic time and scary thinking, will someone else go down today? At one stage I thought I might have to have the entire population euthanised and if that was the case I was going to give up breeding birds forever.

 

I had to force myself to tell this as I wanted everyone, beginners & experienced people alike not to let their guard down for a minute.

 

Even now, when a bird is sitting fluffed up and stays that way when I go to the wire I catch and examine them. I am probably overprotective now but I'd rather be that way than make such a monumental mistake again. :mellow:

Yikes. Thanks for sharing that painful experience.

I wonder if this could go on a pinned topic with any general advice about quarantine.

It's a horror story for you Karen,but thank you for being brave enough to share it as it could prevent it happening to someone else.

Julie

Great idea Julie. It shows the necesity of quarantine, the expense when you don't, and how long lasting the consequences can be. It also shows that we can all make mistakes, but if we learn from them then they are worthwhile.

Topic is pinned, people DO need to read this. Thankyou for having the courage to share this Karen.

Anne

sorry to hear about all this karen, but thankyou for stressing the importance of quarantine. My budgie, Peanut, died of megabacteriosis and it is an awful disease.

 

to anyone that doesnt think quarantine is that important, please please take note. you are risking so much if you ignore good advice.

:glare: what a sad story! so what are the symtoms you look for now? it happened so quickly before.

:nest:  what a sad story!  so what are the symtoms you look for now?  it happened so quickly before.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

First sign is sitting fluffed up and not moving or flying around much.

 

Upon catching bird, look to see if face and beak is clean or dirty:

- in the early stages the bird regurgitates seed that looks slimy and it often

sticks to their beak & face and hardens or they fling it around the cage

- looks like they spit up thick saliva which sticks and hardens

 

They look like they have trouble swallowing/reguritating or otherwise just in need of good neck stretches.

 

There is often faecal matter stuck to their vent feathers that they are unwilling or unable to kick off. Poop can change colour to green or black and loses the white mass.

 

A dead givaway is the bird has lost alot of weight. Feel it's chest, healthy bird you can feel meat, sick bird you can feel the bones easily - sometimes see them protruding.

 

A sick bird will quite often pig out on seed (vet told me they don't usually eat it but grind it up into a powder).

 

Quite often the bird will be unable or unwilling to bite you even if s/he usually does.

 

Literature I have read on the disease says that there are 2 "versions" i you will. One is the ast acting killer that will kill the bird in a matter of day and the second is the one that does it slowly over a period of time. This probably explains why my birds died over a period of time instead of within days of each other. Although when I noticed the symptoms, my birds died within 48 hours.

Peanut had the type that happens slowly. he didnt have any abnormal symtoms with regurgitating. the only signs were being fluffed up and inactive followed by loose droppings and then the white portion of the droppings disappearing completely.

 

by the time you notice weight loss the disease is usually very progressed and you have to act quickly to try and save your bird. the last few days of his life peanut lost about 3g every day.

 

a good way to check for megabacteriosis is to check for powder in the bottom of the seed cups which is actually ground up seeds that isnt being eaten just ground up and spat back out.

Karen What a terrorible experence. Thank you for sharing what must have been very painful.

 

Just one thing. Was the place you bought the birds from Hooper St West Ipswich. I went in there to day and quickly left. The birds not in a very good location. I think a check from the RSPCA is in order.

Karen What a terrorible experence. Thank you for sharing what must have been very painful.

 

Just one thing. Was the place you bought the birds from Hooper St West Ipswich. I went in there to day and quickly left. The birds not in a very good location. I think a check from the RSPCA is in order.

 

 

 

I only buy things like vitamins, feeders etc from them now. Terrible ventilation in the bird room - the smell!!

Karen What a terrorible experence. Thank you for sharing what must have been very painful.

 

Just one thing. Was the place you bought the birds from Hooper St West Ipswich. I went in there to day and quickly left. The birds not in a very good location. I think a check from the RSPCA is in order.

 

 

 

I only buy things like vitamins, feeders etc from them now. Terrible ventilation in the bird room - the smell!!

 

 

Yes thats right, you do know the place then. It's not as bad as a produce place at Bald Hills. That one is bad.

Edited September 29, 200519 yr by daz

I'll know not to go to Bald Hills then.

I've got to start going back to the Ipswich Budgie Association as I need to get contact with other breeders as I do not like buying from the flea market and I prefer not selling there either.

soo sorry. but thanks for bringing up this very important point. how long is the incubation period of Megabacterioses?

ATD

it depends which type they catch. one type they will become fatally ill and may die within 48 hours, the other type takes longer to show symtoms. a few weeks perhaps? either way it needs treatment very quickly. birds suffering with megabacteria are thought to starve to death as the yeast prevents them from digesting food properly, they get anorexic, lose all their weight and eventually die

 

megabacteriosis only affects birds with an already low immune system. healthy birds tend not to be affected as their immun system can keep the levels of megabacteria that occur in the gut under control. there is still a lot that is unknwn about the disease though - the information is sometimes conflicting and very sketchy.

 

sometimes megabacteria is pathogenic andcan be passed from budgie to budgie bydirect contact but sometimes it isnt pathogenic at all and will not pass from one budgie to the next. some studies have shown megabacteria in the gut of healthy budgies and the budgies have had no ill effects.

 

im guessing that stress like breeding is what causes the megabacteria to be pathogenic in aviaries - when peanut got megabacteria casper was and still is fine, despite the severity of peanuts illness.

 

hope that helps, its just what ive read up on and what my vet has told me before.

thanks i have never heard of it at all so just wanted some information.

Cheers

ATD

Karen thank you for sharing your story, very brave and I feel for you as it's bad enough losing just one bird. I don't know how you coped, a very sad story. Hope you are okay now.

ahh! i had a hen from the local petsmart (chain store) that had the same thing! luckily my chiisai didnt catch it, because he heard her and went hunting and found her before i knew where he went... augh. bird-brain! haha. well im so sorry you lost all those birds! i'll be sure to quaratine if i get another!

 

and i think it may be more common in hens because thats who i usually hear gets it

Thanks Pix, I couldn't have put it better myself.

 

 

These are some links that I have found with information:

 

http://www.budgerigars.co.uk/diseases/megwarn.html

 

http://www.vet.uga.edu/IVCVM/1998/gestier/gestier.htm

 

http://www.vetafarm.com.au/manage/document...0Literature.pdf

 

http://www.vetafarm.com.au/manage/document...20Pennycott.pdf

 

http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/CLERK/Son/

those are great karen - there was nothing i could do to help my little peanut recover from this but hopefully having this pinned in the health forum some passers by may take note and be able to spot the disease in time to treat it properly.

 

its an awful disease, and i hope that no more of your birds come down with it karen.

 

lots of love

 

pix

A New development has been going on with this disease.

 

New Name Aviarian Gastric Yeast

 

Avian Gastric Yeast (megabacteriosis)

 

Avian gastric yeast (AGY) or Megabacteria as they were once named are an unclassified fungal microorganism ranging from 1.5-3.0?m in width to 20-50?m in length (Figure 2). They are a yeast, but the term megabacteria is well established in common use.

AGY are associated with weight-loss in budgerigars and to a lesser extent lovebirds, but have also been found in many other psittacine and passerine birds including ostriches.

The organism inhabits the lumen of the mucosal glands of the proventriculus and can be seen in faeces and or crop washes. Most commonly the disease is a dysbacteriosis rather than an inflammation of the proventriculus. Presumably the clinical signs are related to impaired gastric secretion and dysfunction. The infection is present in wild birds.

Clinical signs of infection include regurgitation, vomiting, yellow pasty droppings, melaena, dehydration and severe weight loss. At necropsy the lesions include yellow-white thickening of the proventricular mucosa caused by dysplastic plaques (Figure 3).

Sometimes acute ulceration of the proventricular-ventricular junction results in haematemesis and in severe case full thickness ulceration results in haemorrhage and localised peritonitis.

The organism cannot be cultured and a diagnosis depends upon examining wet-preparations or Gram-stained smears of faeces or crop washes. Histopathology of the proventricular-ventricular junction is also useful.

AGY infection is difficult to treat because amphotericin B given orally (100mg/kg by gavage BID 10 days) has proven to be the only effective treatment. However, there is some evidence of resistance to this treatment but this may reflect the severity of disease in individual birds rather than drug failure.

The cheaper, oral preparations of this agent (Fungilin, MegabacS ) are become increasingly difficult to source. The IV formulations (administered orally) are very expensive on a flock basis. Itraconazole, fluconazole and ketaconazole are being evaluated as alternatives to amphotericin B.

 

 

Link to the information by DR SHANE RAIDAL

Edited October 25, 200519 yr by daz