:ausb: Hope everything has fallen into place and everybody is healthy. Guess that is why my avian vet chose to adopt her daughter's baby budgie from me, home raised, hand raised and she knows all my birds are cool.

Hi!

 

My budgie Gunde (male) has the megabacterioses a chronich version. He has had it for 2,5 years now, and does for the moment not need any medicine. He maintains his weight, but he "changes his feathers" too often His buddy has never got the illness, although they live together. Gunde probably got this illness from his parrent when he was little.

 

He´s been treatend with Megabac-s a several times, and it made his illness under control but does not make it dissapear. I also know a Amazon parrot that has got this disease, chronichal.

 

Does anybody know anything else you can do, except Megabac-S for yous bird??

 

(sorry about my english, i´m from Sweden... )

ive never heard of a budgie having megabacteria for years. its is usually a few weeks tops before death, if it is not treated in time

ive never heard of a budgie having megabacteria for years. its is usually a few weeks tops before death, if it is not treated in time

 

Well, the most common is that the birds eather dies in a few days after the outbreak och gets at treatment and get symptomfree...

It has been found in some birds that they have the bacteria and can live with it...

I read somwhere that in australia, a lots of budgies in the wild has it but that it never breaks out...

 

My bird has the same bacteriaamount all the time (little) but when he is really sick the bacteria has started to grow...

Hi all!

 

After reading this, I think my budgie David died from this disease, as he had most of these symptoms. He was ill for about 2 weeks and was losing weight rapidly. I took him to the vet twice, the first time on antibiotics(which did not improve his condition), and then on the second visit, I was advised to dose him up on vitamins in his drinking water, which also didn't help him. Unfortunately he died two days later. However, my three other budgies are okay so far, but I will now keep a very careful eye on them for any of the signs!

 

I also feel that if he had been in a hospital cage he may have stood a chance of survival, as I couldn't keep him warm enough, even though I kept his cage on a heat pad (for wine making).

 

I intend to purchase a hospital cage at some point, but have no idea where to buy one, can anyone help?

How awful for you! My budgie, Foobles, is currently being treated for the same thing with Fungalin. The vet prescribed it. Like you, I complained to the pet shop after the vet said that it behaves much like the cold sore virus in humans and is triggered by stress, chill etc. Apparently they'll always have it which made me wonder if, like the cold sore virus, it spreads among otherwise healthy birds, awaiting the right trigger. So I asked at the pet shop how safe their other birds would be and got the same response, "Can't guarentee what breeders sell us." Like you, that shop is off my list for the next budgie I ever buy. The fact that Foobles was well since we bought him as a baby (2 years ago) makes me wonder about how effective quarantine would be for cases like this????

 

ive never heard of a budgie having megabacteria for years. its is usually a few weeks tops before death, if it is not treated in time

 

I don't think they have it per se, they carry the dormant bacteria for years and something triggers it to become active, then it's deadly. At least that was my understanding from the vet.

Edited April 19, 200619 yr by pavariangoo

I was so sorry to read this Karen, it must have been a terrible experience for you to go through.

I do have some questions, and I hope it doesn't bring back too many painful memories.

 

Did the lutino that you bought show any symptoms of this disease after you had placed it in the avairy, did it survive and if you had quaranteened it, would it have appeared healthy for the entire period of quaranteen and the illness would not have been detected unless there was something to trigger it??

How could you prevent this from happening if a bird does carry the disease, but it isn't activated until further down the track, after quaranteen is over?

I will always quaranteen my new birds when I establish my avairy, without a doubt, after reading this thread.

Very good questions Riebie and I'll try and answer them as best I can.

 

I am not sure at what stage the first bird developed symptoms - it wasn't too long - perhaps a few weeks but I can't be really accurate.

What pavariangoo said was true - all birds carry the cells for this disease in them. It is like cancer in humans, we all carry the cells but certain circumstances have to be 'just right' for the disease to be triggered.

For megabacteriosis the most common 'triggers' is stress. Females tend to get it more often as they are under more stress than males: egg laying, sole feeding initially after hatching etc.

In reality quarantine will in most cases not catch this disease before being exposed to the aviary. No one knows for sure the incubation time. Quarantine will catch most other diseases & if we follow some vets quarantine recommendation (3 months) then I think all diseases would be discovered.

30 days really is not a long quarantine period so it is unlikely that this disease could be discovered. Best to get a supply of Megabac-S on hand just in case.

There are 2 forms after all - the quick acting form & the slow acting form. My birds had the quick acting form.

I keep a supply of Megabac-S in the fridge just in case it happens again. (touches wood) my aviaries have been clear of the disease for quite some time now so I am starting to breathe easy again.

However, on saying this, I still have the male separated who was responsible for the deaths (last year) of 3 hens & his first nest of 5 babies (from megabacteriosis). He has never shown any signs of the disease, so he is a carrier & will have to spend the rest of his existence in isolation

 

 

* I found this out from further research: Babies in eggs do not have the disease even if their mother had it full blown when mating occurred & eggs laid. It is when the mothers feed the babies that the active form of the disease is transferred to the babies that will ultimately kill them.

Edited April 24, 200619 yr by karen

Remember that this disease has "Changed Name" Now called Avian Yeast disease. Apparently we are hearing that a teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar in 1 lt of drinking water is very helpful in controlling the out bursts. If then it occurs Megabac S as Karen said.

Linked to the Why Quar in the Health section (note for myself and mods)

good post to read as I see new people are getting budgies :hap:

I would like to post an update to this thread. I have done some research on this lately, and AGY (Avian Gastric Yeast) is found in the droppings - your vet can look under a microscope and see whether they are present or not. They do not have to do a gram stain, just a wet mount will show. If there is even one rod present, treat your birds! It does not cost much to have the vet look at a fecal smear under the microscope, and if you have had one bird diagnosed with the disease, it is a good idea to treat the flock. Meds might seem expensive, but a little expense upfront is better than many deaths down the road.

 

They look like a bacterium under the microscope, but antibiotics are ineffective. That is why it was initially called megabacteria. It has been found to have more yeast-like qualities to it, and so the name change to more accurately reflect the disease. Amphotericin-B is the most effective medication against it, although other antifungals are in trials for effectiveness. Signs and symptoms oftentimes mimick PDD (proventricular dilation disease) and often the first symptoms are vomiting and weight loss.

Thanks for the update Rainbow :hap: Its a very interesting topic and very pertinent to a lot of bird health issues discussed these days.

This might be of interest to those who wan't to learn more about diseases.Last year i lost a dozen birds with megabacteria/avian gastric yeast,so i bought myself a cheap microscope from **** smiths and tried to learn and identify the most common bird diseases,the link i'm gonna post will show you how to identify bacteria under a microscope.

 

http://www.finchaviary.com/Maintenance/FecalSmear.htm

Wow, that's really interesting.

And a good idea.

One thing with AGY is that the bird can have it and live with it but only can be detected "IF" it starts to shed it. You can have a bird tested today and it will show up fine but tomorrow it can show positive to it.

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.

 

Thank you so much for telling us this! now i know what my bird died from a few weeks ago!

 

How sad, I feel so sorry for you! :rip:

Thank you so much for writing an articule on this HORIBBLE MOST FRUSTRATING DISEASE OF BIRDS I HAVE EVER COME ACROSS! I've had the unfortunte experince with it for 2 years now! My vet has told me that it will always be in thier system there whole life even after treatment which only feds my frustration more. He also told me about vetafarms godsend product Mega Bac S. The only problem apparently the government won't let vets sell this product so all I have been left to treat them with is Fungalin which has to be the most useless drug as by the time it works you have lost quite a consderable amout of birds from the disease when they were first diagonsed. My question is can you PLEASE tell me where I can get my hands on this product? I am so desperate for some. P.S. Sorry about the 'yelling' I'm just really desperate.