Sick Duckling Advice Needed

[MKUrbanGardener]

I have a Khaki Campbell duckling, about 4 days old that we brought from the post office yesterday that suddenly fell ill this morning; the duckling was behaving fine yesterday and all of last night. However, within the last hour or so, he/she started breathing in a very labored way, and opening and closing it's beak. It also seems to be very off-balance; when it tried to stand it wobbles and falls back and lies down. It's eyes are almost closed and wings are drooping but it still seems to be fairly energetic. I checked if it might have gotten a piece of food stuck and was chocking, but saw nothing. I also brought it inside and put it under fans in case it was overheating, but it doesn't seem to have helped much. If anyone knows what might be happening and how to cure it please let me know, I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[quackingdom]

I'm not an expert on sickness, but no one has answered yet so I'll go on what I've learned from all my research.

First, make sure you quarantine the duck in case the sickness spreads.
Is the duckling eating, drinking, and pooping?

Looking through Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks, it sounds like aspergillosis. It's mainly in young ducklings. It is caused by mold. There is no cure, and it can spread to other ducks. The symptoms include breathing trouble, gasping, no appetite, weakness, and often sticky eyes. It sounds quite close to what you have. Is there any mold or a musty smell where the duckling is living? Can you write an update? You can also research aspergillosis for more information.

@Amiga might know better than me...

 

[MKUrbanGardener]

Thank you very much for the response. Unfortunately, the baby passed away a couple of hours after I brought it in and wrote the post.

I thought it might have been coccidiosis so I was trying to feed it a liquid of scrambled eggs, finely ground oatmeal and water as it seemed like it was getting dehydrated, but it didn't want to drink; once I took her inside he/she was pooping a little bit but it was runny, not one big pile but small amounts in a few different places, and the webbing between her feet started looking shriveled and dry. One peculiar thing was that it was rolling it head around and around when I picked it up a couple of times to check on it... I thought it might be because of pain?

I immediately separated it from the other ducklings when it started behaving sick and have been checking on them, they are doing great. They are being kept with baby chicks as well in the brooder and none of them have fallen ill either.

The bedding is pine shavings from a bag we recently opened, and we have been putting down towels and disposable puppy pads as well. I'm going to clean out the whole thing and spray it down with cleaner (non-toxic of course) and will replace with a new bag of shavings to be safe.

 

[MKUrbanGardener]

To add on- I think you are right about it being aspergillosis. I will definitely try getting that book you mentioned, I have two editions of the Storey's Guides but mostly only on chickens, so I'll look online for that specific one.