Jennifer

How sad. He was very cute and it was great to see you nurse him so diligently. That is a huge amount of fluid for that little body to lose. It looks to me like like it could have been ascites (commonly known as dropsy) which essentially is fluid that leaves the bloodstream and pools in a compartment like the abdominal cavity. It is caused by a number of things, most commonly organ failure or infection - although it doesn't look too cloudy so it may not have been a serious infection if that's what it was. If all that fluid was trapped in his abdomen it wouldn't have been in his bloodstream where it belongs so that could have caused some significant problems for his blood volume as it is essentially much like a massive haemorrhage of plasma. Also, the pressure of the fluid pushing on his organs would have caused problems. No easy answers but you can be very secure in the knowledge that you did everything you could for him.

OMG they are allowing Senegal parrots in from the USA now???? Whoohoo!!!!! :bounce: That means Meyers parrots should be soon to follow. Yippeee, I may be able to import my babies soon!!

Sorry to hear that Caryl. I hope he takes a turn for the better soon.

Yeah, whiteworms are pretty easy. I don't like smelly stuff either so I make sure mine never smell at all. I keep them on about 6cm of slightly damp peat moss - I only just barely wet it. I then feed them only what they can eat in one day, usually bread moistened with water (not milk, that will definately make it smell). I change out the peat every few months or if it develops any musty odours. I have been keeping whiteworms successfully this way for years and they honestly never smell. Give it a try! Oh, and if you drop them in one at a time (or thereabouts) so your fish can see them and snap them up right away, they will be gone in a flash but if they happen to drop to the gravel they will try to burrow into the gravel. They won't survive long underwater which means they won't take over your tank but dead worms will rot and add to the bioload so keep that in mind.

If all else fails, try the NZ Cavy Club: http://www.cavy.wellington.net.nz/

I would think loaches would snap up those snails before the puffers even had a chance...

Oh well.

Yes, he has got some fight in him! Good on you for detecting his illness so soon. Birds have a 'survival reflex' where they pretend to look completely healthy so as not to become a conveneint snack but it is a ruse they cannot keep up for long, especially when they are very ill. Often treatment isn't sought for a sick bird until it is found fluffed up on the bottom of the cage and near death. Those subtle signs of tail bobbing (difficulty breathing) and droopy wings can say a lot to a perceptive owner. Fingers crossed he will come right with some TLC.

Good on you for getting the job done. One thing I find very helpful is using a small facecloth over your hand to catch him in the cage. This is quicker, which is much better than him flying around trying to escape, and the cloth tends to hide the fact that it is your hand. :roll: It is easiest if there aren't a lot of things in the cage first though (e.g. perches or toys). Don't know what you were planning on doing with him when you come down on Saturday, but if you are bringing him with you I am happy to help medicate if needed.

Sounds like a well organised plan! I too would be worried about the plastic containers and the water though - could you use bin liners? Also, I agree, it would be worthwhile to place the bags of fish in a covered chilly bin to minimise stress and temperature fluctuations. I personally would avoid using Melafix unless you really have to. It is an irritant (hence why it kills bacteria) and as such can actually cause stress (unless only a small quantitiy is used but then why bother?). You could use Stress Coat or salt or something similar if you really must use something - that will help with repairing the slime coat if it was damaged by the netting. Just my 2c.

Well said!! 8)

Poor Bud. He doesn’t look very well at all. Caryl, I think your ideas for medicating him are valid and are exactly what I would try. I always prefer direct administration though since I know the medication all got in. However, a bird with respiratory problems is very fragile and any stress can quickly become life threatening so handling him as little as possible is probably best. If you do decide direct administration, get everything ready beforehand – quickly capture him, and give the medication straight away then return him to his case. All up it should take less than 30 seconds to minimise stress. In any case, I would recommend keeping him warm, 29 degrees is a standard hospital incubation temperature and humidity also helps. With his appearance, and distended vent, I would be very worried that it was more serous than an infection though. Budgies are very prone to cancer, especially kidneys & gonads, and internal tumours usually go undetected until illness occurs. I have seen dozens of budgies present with these same symptoms in practice. The common clinical signs are a distended abdomen (from an expanding tumour), difficulty breathing (as a result of the tumour pressing on the organs/air sacs) or lameness of one leg (the tumour presses on the nerves resulting in lamness). They can live for a year or more with a tumour before it gets too large. Surgical removal of the tumour can often be successful but will often reoccur over the course of a few months to a year. Not to worry you, just some things you can look out for if things don’t improve.

Caryl, I got a small Eheim pickup internal filter for about $65 (I think) from John at Organism a while back. It is a fantastic little filter. I also got a much smaller little Elite internal canister filter (smaller than a standard computer mouse) from him last week for about $36 - it has a lot of grunt and works great filled with eheim pro media. I can send a pic of either if you like. You have to order the Elite in special as he doesn't keep them in stock.

It's Microsorium brassii right Alan? Although I have heard it called Microsorium pteropus (narrow leaf). :roll:

Just FYI - I go to Tower Junction sometimes as it is closest to my house. A guy named Miha is in charge of the fish there and he is really nice and very knowlegable (he doesn't work on Saturdays though). Apparently that particular store gets all the unusual fish to trial before they go to the other stores. When I got some Dario at Organism, I called all around town and Tower Junction was the only other place that had even heard of them.

Cheers. I have VLC media player and uTorrent so hopefully all set now. Cool. 8)

Hmmm, I used uTorrent, but it seemed sort of confusing and the .avi file wouldn't play so I downloaded a codec and all is sweet now. Is BitTorrent better? I mean it sounds like it actually plays the files as well, is that right?

Shhhhhh!!!! Some of us are very pleased with the mode of communication....and the way things turned out! :roll: Seriously, now more of us can pass it along.

Absolutely.

I have a black neon who is at least 9 years old. I am not fond of black neons but I feel like she has deserved a place in life now. :roll: Every time I do a water change she 'faints' and lays sideways for a while but eventually gets up and is normal again. I would swear she is 'going grey around the muzzle.'

:roll: don't make me worry.....

It is a basketball piece that is well over $100 now. Seriously too big for my tank and seriously too expensive! I guess somebody might make a profit by buying it and splitting it up!!

LOL :lol: Some other buns can be nice....I repeat SOME other buns...

Cheers Ira. I didn't really know what I was doing but I managed to download the Caprica pilot....I hope that it is legal....

Buuuunnnnssss......