MegaBacteria

[Zazu_Love]

Hello Everyone,

I'm new here and the proud guardian of two beautiful budgies Zazu and Teddy. Unfortunately Zazu has suffered a lot with her health since October. She's had bouts of bacterial infections as well as yeast infections. The vet would prescribe antibiotics that would make her better for a few weeks and then she'd relapse.

Teddy on the other hand is a very healthy budgie and never sick. They live together and I am very diligent about cleanliness, fresh water, food and veggies on a daily basis. Zazu's latest symptoms include coughing, then vomiting along with an occational seed in her droppings.

My new vet (who's awesome!) has done several tests on her and suspects a megabacteria infection in both my birds, only Teddy doesn't show symptoms. The are both going to be put on Amphotericin B to clear it up (fingers crossed). I've also had them on apple cider vinegar and pro-biotics, which seem to help keep her bouts of illnesses at bay.

Anyways the point of this lengthly post is just to ask the you if you have any experience with this type of outbreak? Were your budgies put on this medicine? How well did it work? Were you able to overcome it?

Thanks so much, I'm really at my wits end, Zazu is irreplacable, I just adore her she's my baby.

Always,
Akasma

[pal0m1n0]

I have had no experience with it, but I have heard of megabacteria so I think someone else on the forum does. :)

[Zazu_Love]

Thank you for your response, pal0m1n0. I would love to hear from budgie guardians that have experienced this mystery illness in their flock.

Cheers!

[dotndani]

Just be patient.....someone with experience on this matter will get back to you.Sorry to hear that you are going thru this and I hope your birdies beat this!

[Kerry C]

Megabacteria is not a bacteria. Research done by Dr. David Phalen of Texas A&M discovered it is a yeast. The new name is Macrorhabds Ornithogaster. This was one of the topics Dr. Phalen talk on at Grand National Budgie Show held in Las Vegas in 2005. He was kind enough to let us post these topics on the Budgerigar Association of America's web site. If you would like to read more, the web site address is http://www.budgerigarassociation.com click on Articles and click again on the one with David Phalen, DVM.

Kerry

[Zazu_Love]

Just be patient.....someone with experience on this matter will get back to you.Sorry to hear that you are going thru this and I hope your birdies beat this!

Thank you dotndani, I hope so too!!

[Zazu_Love]

Thank you for your reply and the link Kerry. The amphotericin B is the medicine my birds will be going on.

I was just wondering what the success was with this drug and if reoccurrence was common. Anyones personal experience with Macrorhabdus ornithogaster (Formal Megabacteria) would be most welcome.

Thanks again!

[ronsig]

I have a similar problem. One of my birds is healthy, and the other one has to go to the vet once a month. She had staph 3, now sinusitis.
The underlying problem is constant egg laying, and I am unable to stop it.
My avatar looks cute, but it is a major problem....
I am also at my wits end:mad:

I hope your birds get better.... and mine too.

Sigrid :budgie:
Waterloo, Ont. Canada

[LilMissOz]

Nearly every change of season we will have a small outbreak of Mega but we contain it quickly. Its a very common disease and in alot of cases the bird is actually born with it and in some cases the disease will never rear its ugly head. If you catch the symtoms in their early stages the birds will have a good prognosis. We try and prevent an outbreak by providing our birds with freshly cut lemon. We will cut a lemon in half and place it in an avairy mounted on a wooden plank and spokes.
Once an outbreak has occured we will quarantine the sick bird and will give it probiotic in both their water and down the throat using a syringe. We also provide extra oats and will allow the bird to soak up alittle sun in the morning hours. They seem to pick up after being in the sun for alittle while.
In a severe outbreak we will take the bird to the vet and have its poo tested etc and usually the vet will give it an injection of an antibiotic into its crop.

[Bea]

The only time i've had it affect one of my flock i didn't realise the budgie was sick until it was too late to save her. :( That's the tricky thing with aviary birds, it's difficult to monitor droppings and stuff.

[Zazu_Love]

Sorry to hear that Sigrid, I can see how constant egg laying would be very taxing on a bird. Hope she gets better too, thanks for your understanding.

[Zazu_Love]

Hey LilMissOz,

Thank you SO much for your reply. I have been giving Zazu and Teddy apple cider vinegar and Pro-Bac (probiotic) in their drinking water, so it's good to be reassured that I am doing the right thing. I believe I've caught it in the early stages so heres to hoping for a smooth and quick recovery for my baby.

Thank you again for posting your experience, I really appreciate it.

[Zazu_Love]

The only time i've had it affect one of my flock i didn't realise the budgie was sick until it was too late to save her. :( That's the tricky thing with aviary birds, it's difficult to monitor droppings and stuff.

Sorry to hear that Bea. I imagine it must be difficult. Thank you for posting your experience, I appreciate it.

[Budgiekin]

A friend of the family's budgie had megabacteria. My mom and I were actually the ones who brought him to the vet and he was diagnosed with megabacteria. As your little guys were, Dante was put on Amphotericin B and was given apple cider vinegar water. Because Dante had an acute megabacteria infection, he was likely going to die within a couple of days had he not been treated. If I recall correctly, Dante had this infection over a year ago and is doing just fine today.

I have read that there is also a chronic form of megabacteria so the symptoms are not quite as severe as in the acute form.

I'm glad your little guys are getting treatment and hopefully will have a full recovery. ;)

[pal0m1n0]

We try and prevent an outbreak by providing our birds with freshly cut lemon. We will cut a lemon in half and place it in an avairy mounted on a wooden plank and spokes.


I'm sorry, but I am trying to picture this. :) Is the lemon stuck on the spokes for the birds to eat? or to ward off the bacteria? I have been wondering if I can offer my birds lemon.

[IslandBudgies]

Could some one please list the symtoms of megabacteria infection so I can be on the look out, and also I thought lemon wasn't good for budgies I read that some where? thanx

[Zazu_Love]

Budgiekin,

Thank you so very much for your post. It eases my mind to know that Dante recovered and didn't relapse from an acute attack of this. I believe that Zazu is showing signs of a chronic infection, and both her and Teddy have begun treatment today. Hopefully this will mark the beginning of the end of a long stretch of illness after illness for her.

I really appreciate your sharing this, I found it very encouraging.

[Zazu_Love]

pal0m1n0,

I believe the reason you would offer lemon in a cage would be so that the birds would eat it. The natural acids in lemon, once ingested, make it much more difficult for the megabacteria organisms to grow inside the crop and proventriculus of the bird.

My avian vetranarian recommended putting 15cc of either organic apple cider vinegar or organic lemon juice to one liter of filtered water and use that as the birds only source of drinking water. This may be helpful if your budgies have trouble with their digestive track.

[Zazu_Love]

IslandBudgies,

This is a great article on megabacteria also know as avian gastric yeast. It covers symptoms in budgies.

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww64eiv.htm

As far as giving budgies lemon, there is some controversy. In small amounts it seems to be well tolerated. If you are apprehensive, organic apple cider vinegar may be a better choice. This is what I've been using. As far as I know there are no adverse effects of using this in Budgies.

[IslandBudgies]

Thank you for the link, the article was very infomative. It sounds horrible I'm so sorry to hear that your birds have been infected. Wishing your little babies a speedy recovery.