# Can fish survive ice?



## Kinjilabs (Apr 15, 2009)

My neighbour told me today all his pond fish are dead, they are frozen in the ice.

Would they by any chance survive if they were put in normal temp water? ie like people that survive after being frozen

Asking cos we used to have mice that froze stiff over night but thawed out in the warm


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## deb53 (Jun 4, 2009)

Kinjilabs said:


> My neighbour told me today all his pond fish are dead, they are frozen in the ice.
> 
> Would they by any chance survive if they were put in normal temp water? ie like people that survive after being frozen
> 
> Asking cos we used to have mice that froze stiff over night but thawed out in the warm


Not really sure of the answer here and maybe depends on how long they have been frozen for??? I dont know.........

...........But a few years back I visited my sister and looked into her pond and in the ice was a goldfish.

The pond had frozen over night and we gently poured tepid water over the ice and eventually the fish was free and off it went.

Not sure if it survived or not but we felt good we had given it a chance:thumbup:

So maybe its worth a try.

Supose the question is "how does the fish survive without the oxygen"??? maybe an airlock????

I dunno but would think its worth giving it ago even if he saves just a few.


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## Kinjilabs (Apr 15, 2009)

deb53 said:


> Not really sure of the answer here and maybe depends on how long they have been frozen for??? I dont know.........
> 
> ...........But a few years back I visited my sister and looked into her pond and in the ice was a goldfish.
> 
> ...


Thanks for that, have told them to try, maybe there is a chance


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## deb53 (Jun 4, 2009)

Kinjilabs said:


> Thanks for that, have told them to try, maybe there is a chance


be interested to know how he gets on. Fingers crossed.


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## Guest (Dec 28, 2010)

The pond must be quite shallow for the whole water column to freeze solid, what's the depth exactly? In lake stratification, the deepest part of a still body of water is warmest during the winter, and usually the reverse in summer. Fish will retreat to this warmer layer of water as their metabolism slows down.

Fish are very delicate organisms, the chances that they're still alive are tiny, and 'warming' them up with tepid water would mean instant death if they're not already dead. If the eyes appear glazed over and if there's no visible movement of the gills, then they're dead.


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## deb53 (Jun 4, 2009)

Kinjilabs said:


> Thanks for that, have told them to try, maybe there is a chance





Chillinator said:


> The pond must be quite shallow for the whole water column to freeze solid, what's the depth exactly? In lake stratification, the deepest part of a still body of water is warmest during the winter, and usually the reverse in summer. Fish will retreat to this warmer layer of water as their metabolism slows down.
> 
> Fish are very delicate organisms, the chances that they're still alive are tiny, and 'warming' them up with tepid water would mean instant death if they're not already dead. If the eyes appear glazed over and if there's no visible movement of the gills, then they're dead.


Real weird Chillinator. Totally agree with what you say about warming the fish up directly with tepid water, maybe I didnt word it right. We did the ice around it until it could swim free.

I dunno, maybe there was an air pocket? Its eyes were definatly not glazed, there was water underneath that wasn't frozen so it was able to swim away.

We were amazed and honestly we weren't on the wine when this happened 
It really did.


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## skyblue (Sep 15, 2010)

the safest way to help fish in a pond thats frozen over is to boil a saucepan of water and rest it on the ice until you have a hole


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## Mum2Heidi (Feb 17, 2010)

Thankfully ours has thawed (finally) It isnt terribly deep but we have a small bridge over it and the water under the bridge doesnt freeze as severly:thumbup:


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## Guest (Dec 30, 2010)

Same thing happened with our pond, though thankfully the fish aren't dead and we managed to get them out and into a tank in the house. Good luck!


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## Guest (Dec 30, 2010)

skyblue said:


> the safest way to help fish in a pond thats frozen over is to boil a saucepan of water and rest it on the ice until you have a hole


The problem is, if the air is cold enough, the water that has previously thawed with the heat from the boiled water will freeze over again. Also, the boiled water would lose temperature very quickly. It's probably best to save this method for milder days.


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## adam87 (Nov 16, 2010)

Sorry but who ever survived being frozen?

Polar fish have a natural antifreeze which prevents them from freezing, if it's koi which originate in warmer Asia once they're frozen they're dead, but they do have remarkable tolerance to cold, though this year has been a bitter one. That said as mentioned above it may be another reason, perhaps linked to the weather such as oxygen, pH, bacteria etc.


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

Asia is warmer?
Average January temperature in parts of Japan is -5c much colder than the UK
Mongolia -30c
Siberia -50c


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