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Urgent HELP! Cockatiel been Exposed to ionizing Air Purifier, Is he going to die?

LanaDelina

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I've been home for a couple of days, and have my bird set up in my bedroom. Since my tiel is dusty, my family set up an air purifier in my room (by where his cage is). I've had it running for a total of 12-14 hours over three days sometimes on the auto ionizer setting. I now found out that ionizing purifiers are potentially toxic for birds when I saw my tiel wandering the bottom of his cage during sleep time. I've turned it off and will never use it again, I just want to know, is he going to be okay? I haven't found information on how much exposure is deadly, so I'm really panicked.

He's still lively and eating as I speak, but every time I try to put him to bed he strays from his usual perch and goes to the cage bottom.
 

Shezbug

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An older thread with some information... Ionizers in Air Purifiers

From what I can work out it is that machines producing ions can also create ozone which is the main problem- I am not fully sure I understand the issue completely but I would rather be safe than sorry, and so, much the same as teflon, I just stay clear of anything with ions.
If you can turn the ioniser off then that may be the best thing to do till you get some more replies.

Goes to the cage bottom? What is he doing down there?
 

LanaDelina

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An older thread with some information... Ionizers in Air Purifiers

From what I can work out it is that machines producing ions can also create ozone which is the main problem- I am not fully sure I understand the issue completely but I would rather be safe than sorry, and so, much the same as teflon, I just stay clear of anything with ions.
If you can turn the ioniser off then that may be the best thing to do till you get some more replies.

Goes to the cage bottom? What is he doing down there?
Thank you for your reply!

I turned off all the lights to get my bird to go to sleep. At first, he went to his high perch, but then he made his way back down to the bottom of the cage, He loves sleeping in his high perch so I'm really concerned if the air purifier had something to do with it.

He's just sitting in the corner of the cage closest to me. He isn't sickly looking puffy either (just standard sitting puffy) and his eyes are wide open when I look at him.

UPDATE:

From what it seems he is trying to sleep, or he is closing his eyes to some degree,
 

Shezbug

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I am not really sure what to advise- I guess maybe letting some fresh air in that hasn't been ionized might be a good idea till you can find out for sure if the ions in this situation are a problem or not.

I am honestly unsure of what to think with all the conflicting information I have read in the past and again today- I tend to just avoid anything and everything that seems a touch iffy as I would much rather not take chances. I am hoping @Hankmacaw will chime in with what she knows regarding this issue.
 

Hankmacaw

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Ionizers don't cause immediate damage. They do it over a period of time. Your baby is most likely just fine. Just don't use the ionizer any more.

He could be sitting on the floor of the cage just because he wants to. Maybe he just wants to be nearer to you.


Likewise, are Ionisers safe?

Most ionic air purifiers (ionizers) are completely safe and not bad for your health. They emit negative ions into the air as a way to clean it which is harmless to you. They're often confused with ozone generators which emit high levels of ozone that can be bad for health.

Here is information for you on air filters and he dangers of ionization.
 
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