Fish ate Chaeto and can't swallow the end of it

[FishyReef]

Okay guys, sorry for all of the crazy questions as of late - but my red velvet fairy wrasse appears to have eaten a strand a chaeto, which is now sticking partially out of its mouth. It keeps trying to chew it or puke it back up without luck, will occasionally swallow it, but then the end of the strand comes back up again and sticks out of his mouth. He appears a bit distressed and I don't know what to do (if anything). Will he eventually finish eating it, or should I try to catch him and pull it out?

 

[Waddi]

Give him some time, but personally, I would try pull it out.
But remember, that it may not end well. It may very weel be stuck to something, and when you pull it out it may kill him.
Can you give us a picture? Its just his mouth, nothing is coming out of his gills?

 

[FishyReef]

I didn't see it coming out of his gills, Waddi. I made a half-hearted effort to try to catch him with absolutely no luck. I finally left to come home and will go back tomorrow. I feel really bad about it and do not want to lose this fish. I'll try to snap a picture tomorrow, but will hope I don't have to. I agree about things potentially not ending well if I try to pull it out....

 

[little_fish]

DO NOT PULL IT OUT!!!!!!!!!

If its in his gut or intestine, you could kill him. Same thing goes for any other animal if you see a string/sock coming out from either end.

Go to a vet or let it work itself out.

 

[FishyReef]

Okay, I won't attempt to remove it! And a vet visit for a fish would be more than the cost to replace the fish (even this fish), so I guess I'll let nature just take its course. Fingers crossed nature smiles on my fish this time around.

 

[little_fish]

That was more for pets in general ;)

 

[FishyReef]

Gotcha! I was thinking you were already trying to drum up business by getting people to take their fish in to the vet ;) (oddly enough, the vet I take my cats too specializes in exotic pets, including fish)

 

[little_fish]

Na, its just many people's first instinct when they see that, and its pretty much the worst thing you can do. So now you know!

 

[FishyReef]

Oh, it totally was my first instinct, to want to pull it out! The poor guy looked like he was struggling so with it, and I just wanted to reach in there and help him. Glad I didn't catch him and had enough sense to post here and ask what to do!

 

[wontonflip]

I've heard of people taking their koi to the vet...but we're talking about koi that cost thousands of dollars to purchase. Do they have mini defibrulators for fish? :D

 

[FishyReef]

haha, wonton! The website for my vet notes that because the vet specializes in exotic animals you will occasionally see a fish sitting in the waiting room. Love the mental image LOL

On a side note, the chaeto is no longer sticking out of my guy's mouth and he's swimming around like nothing was ever wrong, so I'm hopeful this means it has worked its way out of his system! I'm gonna keep a close eye on him this week and hope that if he did swallow it he can pass it out okay.