Jennifer

I just sent this out to my students who took the animal breeding course I was teaching. I think it is valuable for anyone adopting out new puppies, especially those that are hand reared. http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vmth/smal ... tement.pdf Off my wee soap box now. :roll: :lol:

So cute! They have the cutest little babies too - like a 4 legged furry egg! hee hee :roll:

Praziquantel is probably the safest and most effective medication you can get for flukes. It is commonly sold as Droncit in your local vet clinic. The standard dose for fish is 2mg/litre tank water. If you can, take the fish out and put them in a treatment bath with the medication for 24 hours then place them back in the tank. Repeat in two weeks.

I got some basalt black grit off trade me and I like it a lot. I was in a pinch to get some more and went to my LFS and bought a bag of shiny black grit 'made' by Aqua One. I don't like it as well as it is shiny but it is fine and being an Aqua One brand it should be widely avaialble by your LFS. HTH

My house Donna. Too bad you will be working on a Saturday evening!

Some females can be good talkers. I used to have a couple that had vocabularies of around 200 words (as well as songs). However, the colour of the cere is determined by sex hormones (testosterone and oestrogen) so if it well and truly used to be cobalt blue but now is brown I would be concerned about significant hormone imbalace. Unfortunately this is often caused by testicular cancer. We used to remove diseased testicles in birds via laparascopic surgery. I am sure Brett at Massey would be a good source for a consult if you were so inclined. Anyway, he is so cute, especially with all those pinfeathers on his head. :lol: I love budgies.

She probably didn't eat any of it. Psitticines just like to destroy things...it makes them real happy. :bounce:

Fantastic stuff Donna. That info is so desperately needed in the turtle care community. Just one question: the link you listed in the document would not open, I don't think it was copied over completely, can you post it again?

Congrats Alan, sooo cute! Must have done something right to get such a nice wee specimen.

3GS 32GB of course! I am not a real Apple person but I was given this phone as a gift and I love it. Much better than I ever expected. Love the ap store too. It may not be the best mobile phone on the market, but it is easily the best handheld computer IMHO.

Click! Sorry for the bad mobile phone quality...was the best I was able to do in a pinch.

Welcome Richard! It looks like you are well and truly into it!! Enjoy your stay here. You should find lots of people with a wealth of knowledge to help if you should need it.

:oops: Dude!! They both have just about the same name...Aquatic Eden...MY Aquatic Eden...who would know? I seriously thought you were a very busy blog writer!!! 8) I was SO impressed.....

I have had noise from air also. If it isn't that you might try lubing the impeller - I read this on Simon's blog post of 19 October: http://www.aquatic-eden.com/ HTH

Haha, seriously Ira, that is exactly how I pictured you!! 8)

I have no idea if your fish has 'worms' or not but if it does, metronidazole should have minimal effect on nematodes and likely no effectiveness on tapeworms or flukes so you will need a different medication for those. Metronidazole is an anti-protzoal and anaerobic antibiotic so it will work on common flagellates like hexamita. Also, take care as metronidazole can build up in the tissues and cause kidney failure.

Clever! 8) Although I hope those power lines are farther away than they look in the photo....

Oh my word! Those are some fantastic photos! I wish I could say I scuba dive, but I don't... Very impressed that you do though!

Me neither. :roll:

Not sure but similar symptoms are seen with tapeworms. Try a praziquantel bath - that should kill cestodes and trematodes (tapewormsand flukes). The worms should start coming out almost immediately when the fish are dosed. Many tapeworms are resistant so it would be good to do a follow up treatment 14 days later. It might also be a good idea to treat for roundworms, levamisole has greater broad spectrum effectiveness against nematodes. If you can get fenbendazole, and are prepared to squirt it into the fish's mouth (since they aren't eating), that is an excellent dewormer that will work well for both censtodes, trematodes and nematodes. Others may have good advice here specific to discus. Good luck, I hope they pull through.

Aww, too bad Sam. Sometimes there is just nothing you can do but keep them comfortable. You did well for trying so hard.

Wow, that is excellent! I really like your pictures and the interpretation of your findings. I have always loved streams but I really have a new appreciation for the flora and fauna now that I have been on the forums...I know have some incentive to go snooping around my local areas! Cheers!

Sam, I have seen similar symptoms many, many times in baby birds. When we x-ray them we see dozens of fractures throughout their body. I am not saying that your finch has this problem, but it is a possibility. It could also be a neurological deficit or some sort of toxin. If you have fed some of the crushed up boiled egg and shell then that will have bosted his recovery as it is chock full of fat, protein, vitamins A, B and Niacin as well as the all important calcium - it has enough nutrients to counteract any of the most common nutritional deficiencies so you shoud be ok with that. If he has fractures, it may be most humane to euthanise him since he may always be a cripple, even if he recovers fully. Babies do heal very quickly so if you are keen, keep him confined, and in a quiet place so he can sleep a lot. Feed him well on a balanced diet supplemented with the crushed up egg and keep him warm and in no time he will be healing and recovering! Keeping him in a tissue box is just fine for now as long as he isn't continually struggling. Keep us updated on your birdy nursing and your little patient.

Not good. Most birds have a survival reflex - that means that they hide it when they are sick - once you see they are sick, they are VERY sick. Too bad you don't have a crop tube... try like mad to get any food into him or he will get weaker and weaker. If you can, get some calcium into him - that may help with the tremors (ground up eggshell or cuttle bone is good), mixed with a little golden syrup and water (if you can't get proper food into him the sugar may perk him up and stimulate his appetite - avoid honey though as it can have botulism toxin). Keep him warm at about 28 degrees and 70% humidity (if you can). Hope he makes it!

I really cannot say for sure what the problem is without examining him (disclaimer) but if he went without good nutrition for a while he could have developed metabolic bone disease and/or have multiple fractures. IF he has this, he might also have muscle weakness and tremors. If he is eating then he has a good chance of recovering, at least obtaining partial functioning. Make sure he is warm (to reduce energy expenditure from trying to stay warm during healing). Feed good fresh finch seed and if he is keen you can offer crushed boiled egg (including the finely ground up shell). It would be ideal to add in fresh vegetables at some point (all caged finches need this) - you can mash up some thawed watties mixed vegetables - that works just as well in a pinch. Ultimately, it would be good to convert him to Harrison's bird pellets (finch size) - that should comprise the majority of his diet with seed and vegies to supplement. Anyway, really not sure what the problem is but regardless he will need to eat very frequently and will need a continual supply of fresh water. Good luck! I have handfed lots of finches with handrearing formulas - they are funny when they grow up tame!