I would try giving them a little nudge in the pot to separate them. It's worth a try, and you'll be able to tell if they're okay by seeing if the tops look good or are wilted.

I'll post some better pictures tonight, but I'm not sure I understand how I could loosen them up without disturbing the roots, I'm just worried about all that wasted potential in each pot..

I have separated and transplanted carrots on occasion. Put on some reading glasses, dig up the bunch with a kitchen spoon (or if this is a peat pellet, gently dig it up). Once you have it, put the mass into a small container that you can flood with water to help loosen up the twined roots. Once they are flooded and you have washed away some of the soil, you should be able to use their tiny leaves (not the stems - too easy to crush) to pull out individual tiny plants from the mass. At that point you can transplant them wherever you want, holding them by their leaves only. It's a painstaking process, but what else are you gonna be doing in late winter before you can do any real gardening?

My two cents, anyway,

Give it a try, have some fun, learn something, and later you can share it with us.

Frank

^^^ Frank, thanks for the advice, I'll give that a go tonight, might as well try and rescue them before giving up!

Do you think it's a good idea to use a rooting solution for the flood, couldn't hurt I suppose..

I am surprised to hear that you can break them apart and transplant them. I tried transplanting my radish thinnings one year and not a single one of the transplants bulbed up, while the undisturbed ones did fine. I had assumed carrots would react the same.

start over!

I thought rooting solutions are harmful if ingested, even poisonous to humans.

Start over.

Instead of 5 gallon buckets, get yourself a couple of these. Its what I plant my carrots in every year. Can get up to 16 per! :-D