The Effects of Airsac Mites in Canaries

Air Sacs

• Birds, including canaries, have a more complex respiratory system than mammals that includes lungs and a connected a serious of air sacs. These air sacs are like small balloons to hold air and are found throughout the body and even inside the bones. The complexity of the canary's respiratory system also makes them more susceptible to infections such as mites.

Symptoms

• Air sac mites are a serious condition in canaries. Affected canaries will have breathing difficulties, which will be seen as labored breathing, tail bobbing and open mouth breathing. They often make a clicking or high-pitched wheezing sound. Other symptoms include weight loss, sneezing, coughing and repeatedly rubbing of the beak on the cage bars and perches in an attempt to get the mites out. Their voice may change making their song sound different or they may stop singing completely. Without treatment, the bird will eventually die due to suffocation.

Diagnosis

• Although the symptoms will make your avian veterinarian suspect air sac mites, to properly care for you bird you will need diagnostic testing for a definitive diagnosis. This is done by visually inspecting the throat, mouth and nostrils to look for the mites, which are dark in color. If none can be seen, your veterinarian may do a throat swap. This procedure involves rubbing a cotton swap around the throat of the bird and looking at the mucus under a microscope.

Treatment

• The mites are passed easily from one bird to another. The mites can be transmitted through shared food and water bowls and by birds having direct contact with each other, including when parent birds feed their babies. Once the condition has been identified in your flock, all your birds must be treated and all cages scrubbed with soap and water followed by disinfection with a bleach water solution. Treatment is often with the antiparasitic medication Ivermectin. Other treatment is to dust the bird with Sevin powder reports the authors of " The Canary Handbook."

  Do not try to treat your birds without veterinarian supervision. A heavy load of air sac mites needs more careful dosage of the medication. A sudden die off of a heavy load of mites can also lead to death.

Prevention

• Cleaning the canary cages and food and water bowls daily, along with feeding your birds nutritious foods, such as finch or canary pelleted food and fresh produce, is the best prevention of airsac mites in canaries. Also, quarantine new birds from your existing birds for six weeks to prevent bringing the mites into your flock.