Ulcerative Enteritis or Coccidiosis?

[alwaystheadventure]

I am a new quail mama with 10 chicks a little over a week old. I noticed today one definitely not acting right. He's very lethargic, not eating at all, drinking very little, and occasionally poops pretty runny (no blood, and I know runny poop is somewhat expected if they're drinking but not eating. He's also pooping too infrequently for me to really be able to tell my that alone). Eyes aren't really droopy, but he pretty much only moves to go from one spot to lay down to another. Brooder is the right temp and I spot clean and change the water neurotically often to keep it clean and sanitary. Based on a lot of research, symptoms point to possible Ulcerative Enteritis or Coccidiosis. I know both are pretty common and can occur simultaneously, but I'm wondering if anyone has advice on what to treat for. I have both Amoxycillan and Doxy-Tyl (though it seems the former is the more commonly used for quail disease) but I'm hesitant to be too aggressive with antibiotics if that's not the issue. However, I also know Ulcerative Enteritis will kill FAST if I don't start treatment, so I'm conscious that a decisiveness is necessary and if I opt only to treat for Coccidiosis, but it ends up being Ulcerative Enteritis, he (and possible others) will die before I know. Any advice?

 

[Nabiki]

Do you have pictures of the chick and the poop?
Are any of the other chicks showing any symptoms?
What are you feeding them?
What is your brooder setup like?

 

[alwaystheadventure]

Do you have pictures of the chick and the poop?
Are any of the other chicks showing any symptoms?
What are you feeding them?
What is your brooder setup like?

I'm feeding them Homestead Harvest Gamebird Starter, with additional electrolytes in their water on days when I fully clean the brooder to relieve stress. Brooder has deep pine bedding, a brooder plate, and a heating pad underneath the whole thing. Thermometer inside reads right around 80-85F, which should be on-point for quail chicks of their age from what I've read. Attaching some photos of the baby and the last poop I scooped out of his. A little light, but I can't tell if it's mucus or not. I did catch him eating a little recently since I late posted this thread, so I know I could be overreacting, but he's just definitely just spending way more time laying down than the others today and not eating all that much. No other chicks are showing symptoms. They're all happily bopping around and eating like crazy. So if it is something, I'm catching it early, at least! Thank you so much for the reply, by the way.

 

[Nabiki]

The poop and chick look normal to me, but I have been fortunate enough to not have much experience with disease.

Let me tag @007Sean who knows a lot more than I do.

 

[alwaystheadventure]

The poop and chick look normal to me, but I have been fortunate enough to not have much experience with disease.

Let me tag @007Sean who knows a lot more than I do.

Thank you again! I know I might be reading too much into things, but knowing how fast these diseases (Ulcerative Enteritis especially) can decimate a young flock of quail just has me paranoid to be on top of catching any potential symptoms before it's too late.

 

[007Sean]

I don't see any signs of either disease. If it had UE, it's feces would be watery and yellowish in color. If coccidosis, it wouldn't necessarily be bloody or reddish but usually that's the 'tale-tale' signs. In both cases, the birds would be lethargic, weight loss and have a 'fluffed' up appearance. With UE, weight loss is very rapid.

Tetracycline, Duramycin, or Oxytetracycline are the standard medication used for treatment of UE. Duramycin is available without a script from a vet but the others will need to have a vet issue.

Amprolium is the usual anticoccidial drug of choice for Coccidosis.

 

[alwaystheadventure]

I don't see any signs of either disease. If it had UE, it's feces would be watery and yellowish in color. If coccidosis, it wouldn't necessarily be bloody or reddish but usually that's the 'tale-tale' signs. In both cases, the birds would be lethargic, weight loss and have a 'fluffed' up appearance. With UE, weight loss is very rapid.

Tetracycline, Duramycin, or Oxytetracycline are the standard medication used for treatment of UE. Duramycin is available without a script from a vet but the others will need to have a vet issue.

Amprolium is the usual anticoccidial drug of choice for Coccidosis.

Thank you so much for your assessment! I will hold off on doing anything but keep watching the lethargic one closely to monitor his condition.
Do you have any advice on where to find Duramycin? I tried to find it weeks ago when researching things I might need for quail and haven't been able to find it anywhere, either locally or online. I eventually came across some comments noting the FDA pulled it for fear of antibiotic resistance. I'm not sure how true that is, but it does at the very least seem to be extremely hard to get your hands on these days. That's why I went with amoxicillin, as other poultry owners have used that successfully as an alternative.
And yes, I have Corid for cases of Coccidosis.

 

[007Sean]

Thank you so much for your assessment! I will hold off on doing anything but keep watching the lethargic one closely to monitor his condition.
Do you have any advice on where to find Duramycin? I tried to find it weeks ago when researching things I might need for quail and haven't been able to find it anywhere, either locally or online. I eventually came across some comments noting the FDA pulled it for fear of antibiotic resistance. I'm not sure how true that is, but it does at the very least seem to be extremely hard to get your hands on these days. That's why I went with amoxicillin, as other poultry owners have used that successfully as an alternative.
And yes, I have Corid for cases of Coccidosis.

Your right I think the FDA was going to pull it but I'm not sure whether or not they actually did? TSC used to carry it....you might find it at some other livestock feed stores?

 

[CliftonQuail]

Your right I think the FDA was going to pull it but I'm not sure whether or not they actually did? TSC used to carry it....you might find it at some other livestock feed stores?

TSC lists a liquid, injectable Duramycin. Does it actually have to be injected or just added to water?

 

[alwaystheadventure]

TSC lists a liquid, injectable Duramycin. Does it actually have to be injected or just added to water?

Yes, that's what I've found, too. The liquid injectable kind is Duramycin 72-200 (which is usually used for cattle) whereas the kind usually recommended for poultry is Duramycin-10, which is either sold out or unavailable everywhere because (after more digging) I found the scoop on the FDA issue. Apparently as of June 2023, they are requiring prescriptions for ALL animal antibiotics. I'm linking the article below. So technically you should still be able to buy Duramycin-10, but every site I've found that once had it is totally sold out...I imagine because everyone is stocking up after that news dropper.
So I'm curious as well if Duramycin 72-200 is safe to use for poultry at all and what the appropriate dosage would even be.
https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/resear...nimal-antibiotics-important-to-human-medicine