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Original poster

To pour boiling water on the fish

171 replies

Sokmonsta · 12/12/2012 09:30

We have a plastic tub with goldfish in the garden. Not mine, we were looking after them for a friend while he moved house. Now he's moved, not collected them and the sodding tub is nearly frozen solid. Have sent him a terse message saying sort the fucking fish (we've had them months). But the only way I can see to help them out is to put hot water in the good 6 inches of ice on top. And it's icky because there are also dead fish frozen in there.

Am seriously wishing I'd just put them in my parents pond when they were on holiday in September!

OP posts:
SoleSource · 12/12/2012 09:49

Murderer!!!

Lilithmoon · 12/12/2012 09:49

complex, not at all. It is not on to treat animals in such a cruel way.

Grumpla · 12/12/2012 09:52

I sincerely hope this is a windup.

Otherwise you should be fucking ashamed of yourself.

complexnumber · 12/12/2012 09:52

I simply would not have room for a tub of frozen fish in my place.

Maybe my idea of the size of tub is different to what others are thinking (surely we are not talking ice cream tub)

MrsReiver · 12/12/2012 09:54

If there wasn't space inside, the fish should have been found another temporary home in the meantime, the OP has said her parents have a pond. They'd have been much safer in there.

vintageviolets · 12/12/2012 09:54
Shock

am I dreaming this

Original poster
Sokmonsta · 12/12/2012 09:54

They are pond goldfish. Too big for our little fish tank. The tub is a good 3 feet high by at least a couple of feet across so I can't bring it in either. I've been feeding them, making sure the water is oxygenated with a little battery pump (far from ideal) and fishing out the dead ones as and when I see them so this has been overnight. I've been out every day, broken the ice and taken the lumps out but the last couple of days have been even colder and they really need to be in a proper pond. As said, the pond being dug into the ground doesn't freeze the same.

I know it seems like I've mistreated them but I really have tried to keep them alive for him.

I hadn't thought of polystyrene but that's a great idea. I binned some the other day so shall retrieve it and float it on top.

OP posts:
BerthaKitt · 12/12/2012 09:54

Many types of goldfish can survive all year round in ponds. But this is partly because there is enough water to provide oxygen even when the surface of the pond is frozen. You can't leave fish outside in a small tub.

You have allowed the fish to suffocate to death.

MadSleighLady · 12/12/2012 09:55

You're slowly freezing a tub of fish to death and sending terse texts to your friend about it? Confused

How have you been feeding them the last few weeks if the surface is frozen? Or am I not going to like the answer to that?

GrimmaTheNome · 12/12/2012 09:55

how little effort it would have taken to bring the tub inside.

I'm assuming its a reasonable size tub, not a bucket...try lifting one full of water before being quite so scathing.

Does the owner know he has a tub of frozen fish in your garden?
the OP said she's texted him and presumaby he knows he left them there and what the weather is like. I'd primarily blame their owner for this situation.

Ghoul's suggestion sounds about right.

D0oinMeCleanin · 12/12/2012 09:56

Lillith a lot of people don't class fish as animals. They don't realise that fish can feel discomfort and pain.

A famous dog trainer once trained a goldfish to push a ball though a hoop. While she was training she made a mistake and took training too quickly. The fish turned green and sank to the bottom of the tank in disappointment. They're not as stupid as people like to think, they do have some level of cognition.

Those fish will have been aware that they were slowly freezing to death Sad

TwistedTinsel · 12/12/2012 09:57

You left them out there and practically watched them die off and freeze.? WTAF?
[ANGRY][ANGRY][ANGRY]Do you have children who witnessed this delightful behaviour? What a lovely role model you are. Do you look after your own pets or is it just other peoples that you neglect.

MadSleighLady · 12/12/2012 09:57

X-post. Is there a shed or porch the tub could go in?

BerthaKitt · 12/12/2012 09:58

X-post, that's not what I would have called a tub. But they still can't survive outside all winter not in a pond.

RarelyUnreasonable · 12/12/2012 09:58

I thought this thread would be about defrosting fish from the freezer for dinner, not live fish.

Sad and I don't even like fish.

AgathaHoHoHo · 12/12/2012 09:58

Bubble wrap around the outside too - lots of it.

nipersvest · 12/12/2012 09:59

sokmonsta, from what you can see, are any under the ice still alive?

i wouldn't pour boiling water in, i'd worry the vast changes in water temperature would do more harm than good. i'd lift out as much ice as you can.

anyone with a pond, would it help to wrap something like a big old blanket or towels around the container to insulate it?

if i were you, i'd find a pond quick and transfer any that are alive.

AgathaHoHoHo · 12/12/2012 09:59

Seriously can't believe you and you friend have allowed this to happen between you.

EuroShagmore · 12/12/2012 09:59

Fish can be left outside all year round, but not in a tub.

Float a couple of balls on the top of the water and remove them each morning so they get some oxygen. If they are already all dead, this might save the remaining ones.

I am frankly astonished that you have left them like this. Poor fish.

AgathaHoHoHo · 12/12/2012 10:00

Where do you live? There might be some MNers who could take the live ones from you and put them in a pond.

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 12/12/2012 10:00

Can you call a vet or pet shop to get some advice if the tub is too big to bring inside?

D0oinMeCleanin · 12/12/2012 10:01

'I'm assuming its a reasonable size tub, not a bucket...try lifting one full of water before being quite so scathing.' How hard would it have been to say to a partner/older child/neighbour/delivery man "Can you give me a hand with this tub, it's too cold out here for the fish"?

I'm guessing it is like one of those huge mixing buckets builders use? I've lifted one of those full of wet cement with help. It's not impossible.

OP has just stated that she has been fishing out dead fish for days, so this hasn't come as an overnight surprise. Please don't float polystyrene on the surface, the fish will eat it and then die. The poster who suggested that probably meant to put the polystyrene around the bucket not in it.

TwistedTinsel · 12/12/2012 10:01

Apologies to op for most of that rant i missed your update but i am still Shock. I don't know much about keeping fish but would it be possible to insulate the tank somehow? I'm guessing moving them to a more sheltered spot wouldn't be possible

ZeldaUpNorth · 12/12/2012 10:03

Where are you? maybe a mn'er is near by with a pond? Long shot i know, but i love fish and feel so so sorry and sad for those poor little things :(

FloatyBeatie · 12/12/2012 10:03

If the tub is that big, presumably it won't have frozen more than a few ice-inches deep and the ice won't be much more of a problem than it would have been in their pond? So perhaps there is another cause for the deaths?

I don't really think the OP needs to be flamed -- she's been feeding, oxygenating, breaking the ice, and the flippant tone of her post doesn't necessarily mean her care of the pets has been callous! Bringing them inside might not help if they are outdoor fish.

Agree that boiling water would be wrong -- better to warm the tub with buckets of cold water.

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