Issue With My Cardianal Tetra?

[dinosore]

SO I've got a cardinal tetra that looks like it has the remnants of a blood work stuck in its gills.
Been there for a few days now; poor thing has issues swimming and now when I went to catch it to put it into an floating breeder to get a better look at it I might have squished it with the net!

Gah; its now having issues breathing, is surface breathing every now and then.
I'm worried, I tried to see if I could unstick the worm remanants with a pair of small tweezers but its stuck in there good and I dont want to harm it.

Will it go away on its own?

 

[magical trevor]

I get this ALOT with my greedy odessa barbs coz they try and eat as much of them as they can fit in there mouths i tend to just ignore it and it sorts itself out. Only really takes bout 20 mins at a maximum mind u cardinals are alot smaller than barbs hope its ok, mibby he/she will learn a lesson on the other hand maybe not! Has it been there for long?

 

[dinosore]

yeah its been there a few days now.
I need to go to my LFS today so I'll take it with me and maybe it's the start of some sort of infection as I thought it might have decomposed by now but doesnt seem to be shifting.
Been dosing with Melafix anyway just in case.

 

[Jimbo1984]

Personally I wouldn't take the fish to the shop with you in its current condition, it will just stress it out even more and potentially hinder its chances of recovery. Take a photo to show them maybe? Are you certain it's a bloodworm?