discolored spot above cere

Hello - I finally got a picture now that it's morning.

He's been on vibramycin, and that took care of the fluffing, sleeping and general sick look.

Currently, he's chirping away, playing (he has gotten more interested than usual in tearing apart his grapevine balls, if that means anything), and generally being normal budgie.

He only makes the noise at night, generally when he's startled, like when I go to cover his cage. I will try covering his cage earlier, he might need to go to sleep earlier. The sound is like a cross between this one, which I found on a web page about avian sinus infections (http://www.birds-online.de/verhalten/sounds/klangvolles-atmen1.wav) and his normal chattering-to-himself sounds.

Not sure what's with that. He doesn't have a crusty cere and isn't losing feathers around his eyes as per other sinus infections. And he sits up normally, doesn't sit in a weird position that looks like he's helping his breathing, and his poop looks normal.

The vitamin A would make sense - back when we took him to the vet the first time for the general sick look, they suggested a deficiency, but we haven't yet figured out what vitamin he's missing, I guess. I've gotten him a mineral block for iodine, he already had a cuttlebone, and I've started putting sunshine factor in his food for vitamin A. I could certainly add vitamin drops to his water as well. And I do have probiotics left over, so I could give him those as well.

Does your bird eat vegetables at all? I would much rather he obtained his Vitamin A through the Beta Carotene available in the vegetables rather than a supplement. Orange coloured vegetables are the higher in Vitamin A. Vegetables like pumpkin and carrot but there is a whole list of veges that contain Beta Carotene.

Why I say this is I have just been sent the final draft of an article that an Avian Vet friend has written that is going to be published in the Australian Veterinary Journal on a study she has done on Vitamin A toxicosis, which is just as dangerous if not more than a deficiency. Once I have had a much closer read of the article I will be making a post on it on the forum later.

Sometimes we think it is easier to give a supplement rather than persevere with trying to get them to eat fruit and vegetables in their diet. Anyone feeding pellets to their birds I would never recommend that they give a vitamin and mineral supplement to their birds at all, especially water based supplements in the warmer weather when they drink more. The pellets already contain added vitamins and minerals so it would be very easy to overdose if giving supplements.