White worm (feeder) coming out of gills

[Ogpulchra2]

I fed my Elassoma okatie some white worms this morning and one of the females had one end of a worm coming out of her mouth and the other out of her gills. 

I scooped her out and pulled the worm out with tweezers. Anyone else experience this? Should I have let it come out naturally? I'm worried I might have caused damage by removing it, but she seemed to be in distress. 

 

Edited March 22, 2023 by Ogpulchra2

[Odd Duck]

If you pulled it out through the gills, the risk is minimal for damage.  If you pulled it out through the mouth, still low risk but the gills are meant to flow through mouth to gill cover so if something like that happens and I knew it was a whiteworm, I’d gently tug from the gill end if I decided intervention was needed.  Usually they will clear it themselves but if she seemed distressed it was good to intervene.