HELP! How can I get this mussel out?

[JDM625]

Ok, this is the most ridiculous thing! I was scrubbing mussels for dinner lastnight, and one slippery fsucker flew out of my hand and went down the overflow pipe!

I've tried chopsticks, tongs, a knife, bottle brush but due to the angle, nothing is working. I can unscrew the S bend/trap underneath, but the hole within the overflow isn't wide enough to push the mussel through. Maybe I could push it up though?

Any other ideas to get it out before it stinks?

Yes this plus chopsticks is my go to for removing things like this.

Wire coat hanger is a universal tool in our house I keep one under the sink for such emergencies.
We have a very long pair of forceps at work ( dentist) they are seldom used, never on patients, so frequently put into the box for throwing away. Everytime I point out their numerous uses and they are reinstated. They are great for retrieving stuff that has dropped behind a cupboard.
Acid drain cleaner will take too long to dissolve it. But smashing it with a screw driver may work, but I would take the u-bend off so you can flush the fragments into a bowl otherwise it may get stuck in the u-bend and rot.

Wire coat hanger made straight but with a hooked end to get underneath it

Have you got any hot glue sticks?? You can melt the end of one (using a candle or something) and quickly stick it to the mussel and then when the glue sets use the stick to pull the mussel free?

No dont don’t do this there are holes at the bottom to drain but they are really small.

Something sticky on the end of a spatula. I have a roll of double sided rug tape that would be perfect for this.

No useful suggestions, but just wanted to say what a brilliant thread this is.

Practical advice with a healthy smattering of puns and general silliness.

Rare for a MN thread these days!

Backstreet mussel abortion.

*backsink

Ok team, everyone needs to go and watch ‘The Rescue of Jessica McLure’ and then report back with your best ideas.

@JDM625 Do you have anything like a tent peg that you can pass down beside it and get the top of it underneath and pull it up, or a wire hanger that you could fashion into a hook 🪝

Icy water might make the shell retract so you can hoik it out easier?

Any DC with small and freakishly long enough fingers? A well-trained cat?

Is there any way of blocking the overflow pipe?

If so, you could fill the sink to just above the overflow hole and maybe it would float up so that you could access it more easily?

I feel strangely invested in this thread …

Thanks goodness! A U-bend suggestion!

However, may I advise that you don't do what I did when I rescued a loose ring that dropped into my bathroom sink drain, which was to take the tupperware box of U-bend water and tip it back down the sink BEFORE rescrewing the U-bend into position. HTH.

Got any strapping tape? With the u-bend off you could feed it down and loop it back up under the selfish shellfish and pull it out?

Could you put some chewing gum on something else sticky on the end of a knife and pull it up that way? I did something similar when one of DD's tiny toys fell between some floorboards on holiday.

Cork, coat hanger and a couple of those nail replacement sticky pads. Cork on the hanger, sticky pads covering the cork, have at it.

Re drain cleaner - I think most of those are strong alkalis. I’m not sure they would be the right thing to attack a seashell with. I’d think about trying an acid eg vinegar.

More thoughts....
Get a good supply of boiling water, (no need to use fish stock), pour it steadily down the overflow, do this two or three times. This should cook the mussel enough for it to open slightly. Then get a long wooden skewer with a sharpened end, so you can spear the mussel flesh and gently pull the whole mussel & shell out together.
Or
Bluetac and a knitting needle.
Or
Toaster tongs.

I'm holding a vigil.

I got some long bendy things from a £1 shop, they had hooks on them that were designed to get hair out of the shower plug, but it might help free the Belfast sink one?

DH isn't home yet with whatever tool he collected at B&Q.

The hoover idea didn't work because even the skinny attachment didn't fit down the overflow slit. If you see the earlier pic from directly above, the work top partially obscures the overflow aperture, making it very difficult to get straight things down into the slit from above. Mussels, however, slip very easily in there!

Drain rods we have, but they are too long and inflexible to make the Y shaped bend into the bottom of the pipe from below.

I'm loving some of the ideas though- coat hangers, glue, blue tak, vinegar.

I'm sure Maurice is appreciating the vigil and support too 😆

I think they’re playing tonight at The Dublin Castle.

Oh this is hilarious 😂. And this comment is a blatant placemark 😂😂

I was thinking asking the same lines as you with sticky stuff, but wouldn't risk gorilla glue as it might stick to the sink.

A mussel is pretty light, so unless it's jammed in there, it shouldn't need too much sticking force. I'd be tempted to try putting down a large lump of something like play-doh, mashing it around the mussel a bit with a stick so the play-doh conforms to the shell (and, if you're lucky, goes into the opening a bit), then hoiking out the play-doh-mussel-lump using the stick.

Edit: play-doh has the added benefit of being soluble in water so should be unlikely to cause another, worse blockage in the pipe, unlike something like plasticine or blu-tack.