- Thread starter
- #21
Farmerjim87
In the Brooder
- Apr 30, 2018
- 11
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An update:
I had been giving the ducks water from a rain barrel. I went to scoop some water out of the barrel yesterday and discovered it was literally swarming with some kind of organism. 4-5mm black, highly motile, swimming helminths I believe. Probably a flatworm, probably a fluke. Non bacterial/viral microbiology is not my strong point so I don't think I can be anymore specific.
Anyways, it was still quite cold while I was giving the ducks this water. I suspect oocytes were present in tthe water but environmental conditions were not favorable for germination. During this time the ducks were freely drinking the water. For some reason, 6 were apparently able to deal with this insult, one was not.
I strongly believe the duckling suffered from overwherlming parasitosis. I feel bad I was the one that gave it the contaminated water. I wanted to post this for educational purposes to wrap the thread up, in case anyone else runs across this. I think this is an unusual case and I never thought to test the water. I first noticed subtle signs 2-3 weeks before I had to fill it. Initial symptoms were swaying back and forth, almost like it was drunk or about to start wreching.. it also had a (at least at first) growth restriction. At this stage, identification of the parasite and targeted treatment would have probably saved it.
As I said earlier, this was a syndromic presentation and in general, it's more likely one thing is going on rather than many things. In developing your differential diagnosis, include at least 1 or 2 things that could explain all symotoms. Hopefully this helps soneone.
I had been giving the ducks water from a rain barrel. I went to scoop some water out of the barrel yesterday and discovered it was literally swarming with some kind of organism. 4-5mm black, highly motile, swimming helminths I believe. Probably a flatworm, probably a fluke. Non bacterial/viral microbiology is not my strong point so I don't think I can be anymore specific.
Anyways, it was still quite cold while I was giving the ducks this water. I suspect oocytes were present in tthe water but environmental conditions were not favorable for germination. During this time the ducks were freely drinking the water. For some reason, 6 were apparently able to deal with this insult, one was not.
I strongly believe the duckling suffered from overwherlming parasitosis. I feel bad I was the one that gave it the contaminated water. I wanted to post this for educational purposes to wrap the thread up, in case anyone else runs across this. I think this is an unusual case and I never thought to test the water. I first noticed subtle signs 2-3 weeks before I had to fill it. Initial symptoms were swaying back and forth, almost like it was drunk or about to start wreching.. it also had a (at least at first) growth restriction. At this stage, identification of the parasite and targeted treatment would have probably saved it.
As I said earlier, this was a syndromic presentation and in general, it's more likely one thing is going on rather than many things. In developing your differential diagnosis, include at least 1 or 2 things that could explain all symotoms. Hopefully this helps soneone.
