Mycoplasma?

[Pyxis]

So I need advice from anyone who knows anything about mycoplasma. I took my chick to the vet today because it had been lethargic and it had a watery, gunky eye. It had had the same problem once before, but I cleared it up with erythromycin. Anyway, the vet told me she had some conjunctivitis and that it was definitely caused by mycoplasma and I should never put her with my other birds. No tests were done. He just looked at her eye, gave me Baytril and some eye ointment, and sent me on my way.

So, is this true? Does my bird definitely have mycoplasma? During her healthy period she was in with the other chicks and none of them have any symptoms of any kind of illness. She doesn't have nasal discharge, or rattling, or sneezing. Just her one eye gets watery and gunky, and she had some lethargy but that has already passed. When I first got her and was nursing her through her first sick phase, she had another bantam chick in with her the whole time. This chick appears completely healthy. Here are some pictures of her eye when the first problem occurred:

She also had comb damage which led me to believe another chick had nailed her in the eye and comb and an infection had developed. When she started with her second bout of this I thought the bacteria had gone systemic and the ointment on the eye hadn't been enough to wipe it out, which is why I took her to the vet in the first place to get Baytril.


So I guess my question is, is this definitely for sure some kind of mycoplasma? I'm willing to build her her own coop and run and isolate her from the other birds with one other chicken as company for the rest of her life to control the problem if that's truly what it is, but I'm just so perplexed by the whole thing, seeing as how she didn't manage to get the other chicks sick if this is truly what it is.

Sorry for writing a book about it. The whole thing just makes me sad

 

[featherz]

I am not a vet, and don't wanna contradict one, but doesn't sound a whole lot like MG to me, since the vet didn't send a swab or do any tests, none of the other chicks are sick and there's no respiratory problems. I've had several small chicks with eye problems because they were pecked in the brooder - little chicks love to peck at eyeballs. Where did you get the chicks from? Have they ever been outside?

 

[Pyxis]

They haven't been outside, it's been too cold. Got this little one from TSC, and all the other birds in its bin were fine, including the bantam chick I mentioned previously that I bought with it and has always been with it, up until this point. I have it all alone now because I got freaked out it could give it to the other chicks or my parrot - come to think of it, it's been with the other chicks for five weeks now and they're all completely fine. I just started thinking about it now and it didn't seem right to me after I was reading up on mycoplasma on here.

 

[featherz]

I'd wait for one of the real experts here to comment, but while it could be MG, I still think symptoms point to an eye peck/brooder injury. However, hate to contradict a vet - I've never brought a chicken to my vet, but he's already said he doesn't know a whole lot about chickens.

Also, if it was MG my guess is the other babies would have been exposed already.

If you wanted to be positive, the vet could send a swab out for testing?

 

[Pyxis]

I'd love to, but I'm wondering if he'd charge me another $52 for an avian office visit Plus, I'd kinda feel like I was saying I don't trust him by doing that - and he's really good with my parrot. I just feel like he probably doesn't see chickens very often and that maybe in this case he was wrong...I could always ask my vet professor if he could send a test out for me if I got a swab. Perks of being in vet school, I suppose

Of course, I'd love to hear from anyone who's dealt with it and see what they think, too.

 

[Pyxis]

Does anyone else have any opinions? His eye does get bubbles in it before it gunks up completely. It's the earliest stage of his eye regressing if you don't put the ointment in it on time. Does this mean anything?

 

[Lrkel]

I have the exact same thing going on. I had a chick at 5 days get a weepy gunky eye. I figured it got pecked and put triple antibiotic ointment in the eye for a couple days. It cleared up the first day. A week or two later it got little bubbles in the bottom of the eye and was gunky again. I thought maybe I didn't treat long enough and applied the ointment for a few days. It seems to be starting again a week later. It's only the one eye and it doesn't show any nasal discharge or respiratory issues at all. The other eye is fine. All 10 other chicks are healthy and have no symptoms. I am confused by it. The chicks have never been outside and I hatch them all from eggs. It sounds like MG as far as the bubbles but nothing else seems to fit. Did you ever find out what was going on with your chick and how is it doing now?