Food stuck in Jurupari's mouth?

[kingneptune]

Hey all,
Apparently while I was away at work today my big bamboo shrimp passed away and the fish started going after the body. I figured the extra nutrients couldn't hurt so I left it in for them to eat. Then my Jurupari got a hold of what was left and has been sucking on it for several hours now, spitting it out and immediately gobbling it back up as they usually do. Well, it's been a few hours since it was last 'spit' out and I can see the shrimp body inside of the Jurupari's mouth. I'm afraid it might be stuck. Should I grab a net and tweezers and pull it out or will the Jurupari be able to pass it if it is ingested? I'm worried about the exoskeleton of the shrimp not being able to be digested.

Initial photo of Jurupari eating the shrimp.

This is several hours later. You can see the shrimp body in the Jurupari's mouth.

You can see the orange/brown of the shrimp through the Jurupari's skin.

 

[Cory]

If it were me, I'd probably remove it. Is he moving it around in his mouth? Or just swimming around with his mouth open like that? If he's still working it around with his mouth maybe he can eat it. But if not it's probably stuck.

 

[kingneptune]

At times it looks like he is trying to chew it but it doesn't really like he's making progress. Do you have any advice on a good way to remove it?

 

[Cory]

If you have planting tweezers I'd use those. Just get him in a net, and go to work. Even if you can pull part of it off/out, it'll make it smaller.

 

[kingneptune]

Ok. I'll give it a shot. Thanks Cory.

 

[kingneptune]

Good news. The fish spit it out while I was trying to net him. Crisis averted.