Thick stringy bit from goldfish’s mouth

[Lidwien]

One of my gold fish has this thick ‘string’ sticking out of its mouth and is firmly attached to somewhere in the fish’s mouth, or ?gut! From my hand holding the fish you can see how large it is. It does not seem to be alive (like a worm/parasite), but it does appear to be some kind of tissue. Like a membrane with some dark stuff inside. It emerged within hours, not there this morning! The fish does not seem unwell, still eating well and acting as if nothing is out of the ordinary! None of my other fish are affected. Lives in a pond outside.
Any bright ideas anyone??!!

 

[Tula]

I'm not sure what it is, but if it was my fish, I'd sedate it and clip it off ( with clean tools ) as close to the mouth as possible...then keep a close eye on it.

 

[Lidwien]

Thanks Tula
I considered doing that but I’m concerned it’s part of the fish’s anatomy and end up doing more harm than good

 

[bagsmom]

I think it looks like it tried to eat something that was too large! I had that happen with one of my fish - he had a partially decayed plant stem sticking out for a while, then finally munched it or expelled it. Hopefully it is a situation like that. If not a decayed plant stem then maybe a dead worm a bird dropped in the pond?

 

[Lidwien]

Hi
Could be! That would explain why it’s stuck. Perhaps already mostly taken into her gut. In the mean time I have read fish can have tapeworms. I’m also contemplating that one, although the ‘thing’ seems not alive. So hopefully it’s just like you suggested. The fish is still doing fine this morning.
Thank you

 

[Dave 54]

One of my gold fish has this thick ‘string’ sticking out of its mouth and is firmly attached to somewhere in the fish’s mouth, or ?gut! From my hand holding the fish you can see how large it is. It does not seem to be alive (like a worm/parasite), but it does appear to be some kind of tissue. Like a membrane with some dark stuff inside. It emerged within hours, not there this morning! The fish does not seem unwell, still eating well and acting as if nothing is out of the ordinary! None of my other fish are affected. Lives in a pond outside.
Any bright ideas anyone??!!

I'm not sure what it is, but if it was my fish, I'd sedate it and clip it off ( with clean tools ) as close to the mouth as possible...then keep a close eye on it.

Hi @Lidwien I've removed odd tings from my koi's mouth before now, but even I am a tad stumped by what I see .
My first question of you is this what does the thing sticking out of the goldfishes mouth feel like i;e alive and fleshy in texture or dead and plant like in texture .
Next goldfish like koi have teeth in their throat and anything going in will get mashed up as it passes doown into the fishes gut goldfish like every other type of Cyprinid species do not posses a stomach what ever they have eaten gets mashed up.
The fish can takeout the nutrients vitamins fibre etc out of its food on the passage through its gut until it comes out of the vent end so to speak.
@Tula suggest's you should sedate the goldfish and clip the offending object off as close to the mouth as possible the sedating I agree with but I would first clip off a small piece at the end to see exactly what we are dealing with .
Do you have a microscope you could put this piece under to see its internal make-up before we know if we can clip it right off or not .( better to be safe than sorry @Tula ).
Personally I think this is a goldfish with eyes bigger than its belly so to speak (if it had one).

Dave 54

 

[Lidwien]

Hi Dave
Ok, you and Tuka have me convinced. I must say it does feel fleshy, so I will remove a tiny bit later today to give me a closer observation. I’ll keep you posted.

 

[Dave 54]

@Lidwien question my friend does it resemble anything wild or growing that in your part of the world that we've not got in our respective countries me being a Brit with @Tula an American ..

Dave 54

 

[Lidwien]

Hi Dave and Tula
Well, it’s been cut off. No sedation required. The bit was not part of the fish and so I proceeded cutting it off to the furthest point I could reach safely. It looks fleshy, and is tubular. I cut it across its length for you to have a look at. Wondering if this is a dead intestinal worm. The bit in this photo is just over 2 cm (not including the bit still in its mouth). It does not feel and come apart like plant material.
We do have plenty of intestinal critters here in Tasmana, but I am certainly ignorant on parasites and have no clue to what it may resemble.
Thank you both for your ideas. I think the fish looks happier, even if that’s just me thinking that

 

[Lisak1]

Wow! I have no idea what it is, but it sure looks creepy! I would venture a guess, though, that a dead worm would not hold it's shape like that. Anything that was once alive and fleshy would start to turn to mush when it died, unless it had an exoskeleton like a beetle. It looks more like a dried up reed or grass to me from the photos.

 

[Lidwien]

Hi Lisak
It did feel like tissue rather than plant. Did you see the photo of the ‘thing’ cut open??

 

[Lisak1]

I did - it looks dry in the picture, but maybe it's more rubbery than it appears. It's all rather disgusting! haha!

 

[Angel]

THANK YOU for keeping pics as a thumbnail. !!!!

 

[Dave 54]

@Lidwien I think your best bet would be to post the picture online and ask what folk think it is as someone is bound to recognise it .
Personally In my 30 + years of fish keeping I've never come across anything quite like it before so it would be interesting to know if someone I.D's it be it plant animal or exoskeleton .

Dave 54

 

[Lidwien]

On touch the thing felt like squid.

Checking fishy today and I can no longer see the left over bit in his mouth. He opens his mouth quite wide when I turn up in anticipation of food, so I was able to have a good look. He looks happy and healthy.