Sick duck - won't eat and dropping weight--help

[TwoDogFarm]

Quick update: my duck here passed away a few days after this initial post. Then the rest of the flock started showing similar symptoms. (We have 18 other ducks). I found out that my flock had contracted botulism from some puddles of standing water, and some of them started losing muscle control and eating abilities. I started charcoal flushes on them and after about a week of rotating my flock for flushes and sanitizing the whole coop with white vinegar and filling in holes with clean dirt, they all seem to be feeling better than they have in a couple of months.

Just want people to know that if your ducks start in with these symptoms --limping, trouble walking, not being able to eat--this is what botulism looks like. I know I had read about it before but I didn't expect it to look quite like it did in our flock. If you notice any of these symptoms, it's best to start treating as soon as possible.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. In looking back over your thread, you had never mentioned any leg weakness, limping. Did you get a necropsy? Botulism is very common in ducks, but it usually causes sudden paralysis starting in the legs, then wings, then the neck, where they start having paralysis in the breathing muscles and die--usually within a day or so. It comes from eating the botulinum toxin found in animal or fish carcasses, vegetation, maggots, and mud from where something has been decaying underwater. Other possible lookalike illnesses are fowl tick disease, and vitamins deficiencies. Here are some good articles about botulism:
https://www.beautyofbirds.com/botulism.html
https://nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/233569/botulism-in-chickens-ducks-and-others.pdf
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/19/botulism/

 

[TwoDogFarm]

Thanks. I thought I had mentioned her leg problems too but I see now that I didn't. My ducks occasionally do have problems with their legs but the problems usually show and then go away for a while. So I didnt really link the two problems. She had started limping some for a couple of days before when we started noticing her not eating as much as usual. By the time I separated her, she had gotten to the point where she was falling around but I had thought it was due to her getting weak from not eating as much--but she was still eating some. That's when I tried getting her to eat more though. The day before she died, I sat her on the ground and her legs couldn't even support her. She was trying to push herself on the ground with her wings. She appeared to be having some issues holding her head up as well but she kept making it seem like she was dropping her head to forage out of the grass. I had her sitting on my lap in the grass like this picture. She seemed very lethargic and had trouble keeping her eyes open on her last day. She barely ate anything but I gave her Nutri-drench in her water and orally a few times that day thinking that if I could keep nutrients in her, she would be okay. She just needed to get her strength back. Since it was a weekend, I had planned to take her to a vet Monday morning but it was too late.

Tuesday evening, one of my other ducks started stumbling around the coop and could barely control her neck muscles. I took her out and tried to get her to eat but she had trouble eating. After reading about duck issues after our duck died, we had speculated maybe botulism took her down so quickly so we didn't waste any time. I started this duck on a flush that night and the next day, she showed some improvement. After three days of treatment she is back to her old self now. Some of our other ducks had problems with limber neck as well. We've treated our whole flock now and sanitized the coop. They all seem better.

We think that a couple of things could have happened..they are very messy drinkers and leave mud around their buckets. It had also rained and they had been playing in the mud. They may have picked up the toxin from the puddles. We also have a rat infestation that we have been working with the exterminator to get rid of. Maybe they brought the disease. The ducks also spill food under the feeders (which I now am trying to do better about picking up at night). Although I didn't see anything molded, it may have caused this problem.

I appreciate the info about the other diseases that may look like botulism for future references. Because of the success of the flushes and their symptoms, I'm almost positive that's what they had this time and what killed my other duck.