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Unfortunately, no - it's never that simple.
But usually involved in some way are a bacterial imbalance (for which you give probiotics), and resulting stress, possibly dehydration. When you treat, no matter what the cause, using probiotics and keeping a bird hydrated are very important. Sometimes if you catch it early enough, those two actions are enough. I find this to be true very very often.
Using antibiotics causes diarrhea = don't use them unless you're that the antibiotic is correct.
Feeding high-water fruit or excess fruit can cause the appearance of diarrhea, or true diarrhea respectfully.
Coccidiosis is more common in chicks due to warmth and moisture, but stress also causes diarrhea. And thus so can shipping sometimes.
Honestly, you have to know how birds are born. They're born without their normal bacteria in their gut. They get the good (and bad) bacteria in their guts by eating droppings from their hen. Since we rarely hen raise anymore (and you don't want to just feed them feces), some of us give probiotics in the first week (second feeding) to make sure the good bacteria get there and catch hold first. They help prevent bad bacteria which can help prevent diarrhea.
The best way of preventing diarrhea is by keeping conditions dry, keeping water clean and biofilm free (no slimey feel), using probiotics occassionally, keeping the birds wormed regularly, putting them on a good diet, using amprolium medicated chick starter for babies under 8 weeks.
In the case of your baby, it was likely an imbalance of bacteria because of not being given probiotics at first, possibly an incorrect brooder temperature or temperature fluctuations, maybe a slight run in with coccidiosis (*see below), possibly diet, maybe exposure to feces or dirt.
By the way, slight run ins with coccidiosis are GOOD. They're necessary so that the babies experience a little brush with cocci, their good bacteria (that we provide by probiotics) and good dry conditions in the brooder and the use of amprolium in the feed (as a light coccidiostat dose) all help the bird not to get actually infected. Then they develop an immunity to that species that they 'met'. There are nine species in all, three more common than the rest. So you want them to not live in sterile conditions, but very very clean and dry conditions. A normal chick always experiences coccidiosis and you often will never ever know because the body's immune responses and good bacteria take care of everything so they're non-symptomatic.
