We got our Green-Cheek Conure about 10 days ago; he is about 4 months old. This afternoon at his checkup to make sure he was “fit for purchase,” a strange microorganism was found in his fecal sample. The vet had never seen it before. The microorganism is about equal in size to Megabacteria (i.e. really big for something microscopic) and it looks like a pine needle: a long, skinny, tapered cigar shape. Some of the pine needles have nodes in the center (see drawing inside for a rough visual interpretation.) Have any of you ever seen or heard of a microorganism like this? Research online has turned up nothing so far. Our best guess is that it is a yeast of some sort (like Megabacteria, also known as Avian Gastric Yeast.) [more inside]
posted by Infernarl on May 3, 2006 - 3 answers