Yeast infection

So i'm pretty sure Max (6 week old ekkie) has a yeast infection.
There is a weird smell coming from his beak, his crop movement has slowed down, and there are red veins all over his crop.

Closest avian vet is 2.5 hours away and is not available until Monday at the earliest, even for emergencies.

What can I do to treat this? I am confident doing a crop flush (i've done this before with cockatiel chicks), but what can I give him to break down and kill the yeast so I can flush it out?

I can go to the chemist and get some Nilstat oral drops tomorrow morning, but would that work to treat this?

Can you call the breeder to ask advice. But please also Google, Google, Google to find out as much as you can. Remember act in haste, repent at leisure. I'm sorry I'm no real help and hoping you get better later on today. Will the Vet give you phone advice? Have you checked the lists for another AV?

I'm so sorry to hear about your baby Ekki's crop! Sounds like it could possibly be sour crop.

https://www.beautyofbirds.com/slowcrop.html
Crop Infections in Birds | VCA Animal Hospitals

Yes, Nilstat (nystatin) does work for yeast infections.

I don't mean to worry you unnecessarily, but please get your baby to a vet, just to rule out possible bacteria that could require antibiotics!

Best of luck, and please keep us posted!

We'll be going to visit the vet on Tuesday when she is in, just to rule out any possible issues that need attention.

I think this may have been slow crop rather than a yeast infection. There was no yeast adhered to his crop visible from the outside which I have been able to see in Cockatiel chicks with yeast infections. Nor did his crop feel thickened at all as it usually does with yeast, and he really wasn't displaying any of the typical symptoms other than the funky beak smell (which I don't think was yeasty but not entirely sure) and the red veins.

I'll keep an eye on him and definitely get him checked out, but he seems OK for now.

Thanks for the replies!

I gave him some warm water last night and massaged his crop a little, and skipped his last feed for the night, and he is completely emptied out this morning.

What about apple cider vinegar in the water until the visit? (Although this may be more for bacteria)

katie_fleming said:

What about apple cider vinegar in the water until the visit? (Although this may be more for bacteria)

Click to expand...

Not necessarily, you had it right the first time. Parker had a yeast infection under his wing when I got him. Vet gave me a soother spray and had me cut it with ACV. Worked like a charm!

katie_fleming said:

What about apple cider vinegar in the water until the visit? (Although this may be more for bacteria)

Click to expand...

Katie, that's an EXELLENT suggestion!!!!!

Shae, if you DO decide to give baby some ACV, please do it VERY sparingly (drops...not teaspoons, LOL)

https://www.beautyofbirds.com/vinegar.html
Apple Cider vinegar and birds : Macaw Connection

Thanks guys, I will go get some ACV and give it a whirl. Anything is worth a try at this point, I just want him to feel better! I have cut his morning feed in half and we'll see how quickly he empties out. If he empties out in good time I will give him his usual amount next feed and see how that goes.

It just sucks not having an avian vet local. She is entirely unreachable until Monday so I can't even call for advice. I've tried calling other avian vets (from other states) and they just tell me they can't help without seeing the bird. Gah.

I want to get him some Nilstat but at the same time I don't want to give it to him without knowing if he actually has a yeast infection. I was going to do a flush this morning and inspect the contents but he was completely empty so there was nothing to flush. If he had yeast, i'd still be able to feel it in his crop, right? The yeasty tiels i've had always had doughy, yeasty crops after their last feed was skipped and crop had emptied. Max doesn't have this at all.

I wish avian medicine was as common as regular veterinary medicine. Or at the very least I wish it were routine for aspiring vets to be taught how to diagnose and treat crop infections in veterinary school!

If you want to, look up 'SilverSage'. She's a breeder, and she really knows her stuff. Here you go: http://www.parrotforums.com/members/17929-silversage.html
You could either send her a message, or give her a link to this thread.

Thanks! I'll hit her up and see what she says

He is doing much better today. His crop is almost completely empty again after his first feed which is fantastic. He seems a little more tired than usual but if he's fighting off a crop infection I don't blame him. Plus he's a baby, he sleeps most of the time anyway so it could just be me being overly concerned and paranoid.

I got some ACV, but the only organic stuff I could find (with no additives etc) is double strength (8% acidity). On the forum you linked me to, the general dosage for ACV is 1 tablespoon to 1 gallon of water. I was thinking I will add half a tablespoon to a gallon of water?

Thanks Raven!
The bottle says this:
"Naturals double strength apple cider vinegar is prepared from the juice of whole mature apples. After the first acetification process, the vinegar is stored in wooden vats resulting in improved flavour and taste. Melrose apple cider vinegar is not filtered or pasteurized thereby retaining the valuable fermentation residues and the "mother". The natural sediment present is the true sign of raw, unfiltered vinegar and contains pectin trace elements, beneficial bacteria and enzymes."

The only thing i'm worried about is it being double strength. I don't want to punch him with acidity lol.

Double strength? That's strange. Never heard of that. I don't even know "how" it could be double.

Is there a phone number on the bottle? Or if you look the company contact up, I'm sure they can explain to you what they mean by "double strength" as compared to other natural unfiltered acv's out there. But it should be fine with so many parts of water per tsp of acv.

Apparently the double strength is in the acidity, which is 8% acetic acid. This is it: https://www.fourbody.com.au/melrose-apple-cider-vinegar-double-strength.html

I'll just mix it up by the ratio you gave me. It should be OK I think as you said, being so diluted.

Thank you!

So his crop was completely empty after his half feed this morning, and he has perked up a lot in the past couple of hours (probably hungry!) so I gave him his usual lunch feed with a little ACV added.

I was extremely careful about keeping the syringe full of food at the right temperature as I think that may be where I went wrong. I am entirely used to spoon feeding but Max doesn't respond well to the spoon so i've had to be the one to convert lol. Syringe feeding a larger bird is definitely much easier and I am way more confident doing it with Max rather than a teeny Cockatiel chick, but I just have to remember to keep the formula hot enough to be safe for him to eat.

Thank you everyone for the help! I'll let you know how our vet visit goes on Tuesday but for now I think he's out of the woods

It looks like it was just a sour crop thing. He doesn't smell bad anymore! I can now go back to sniffing him all over because he smells good again lmao! -is a little creepy-

Also, here is a photo of the little dude

Oh dear I'm having one of those MBS moments "I want one" he's adorable.
Sincerely hope all is well and look forward to hearing and seeing reports of this little one in the future.
PS glad you got some good advice from those here, they really seem the best!

Thanks plumsmum! I am so grateful for the people here! With our avian vet so far away and unreachable at times, it really is reassuring to get advice from people with first hand experience and who know what they're talking about. Google is great (and believe me, I spent the better part of 4 hours on google yesterday when I first suspected a problem) but it really helps getting advice from people on here.

ACV seemed to have worked already :11:? Perhaps it was that 'double strength'? Anyway, that's GREAT news! Ohh and he is extremely adorable .

Possibly! I think it was mostly the fact that I caught it early and and was able to treat it. We have our vet appointment tomorrow but I think all will be well! He is perfect now. He has hit 400 grams!