Zebra Mussells. Good or bad?

[headoftheholler]

I grew up in Floyd county and we fished and boated Dewey Lake (Jenny Wiley SP) back in the day Dewey was a nasty muddy cloudy turbid lake, night and day compared to Paintsville lake. After living in Georgia for 6 or 7 years I moved back and now Dewey has zebra mussells and is crystal clear (most of the time) Places that I used to fish just throwing a bobber into not knowing what was under the water , I go to the same place now and I can see the bottom through 6-8 ft of water and there is vegetaion (cover) growing nicely. The bass fishing has become awesome now. I just wondered what exactly was the negatives to the zebras?

 

[JasonGoneFishing]

Zebra mussels have caused millions of dollars in damage to water intake structures and delivery systems, such as those used for power and municipal water treatment plants in the eastern United States from the Great Lakes into the Mississippi drainage.
Recreational boating can be affected by increased drag due to attached mussels. Small mussels can get into engine cooling systems causing overheating and damage. Increased hull and motor fouling will result in increased maintenance costs on houseboats and vessels moored for long periods of time. Navigational buoys have been sunk under the weight of attached zebra mussels. Fishing gear can be fouled if left in the water for long periods. Deterioration of dock pilings has increased when they are encrusted with zebra mussels. Continued attachment of zebra mussel can cause corrosion of steel and concrete affecting its structural integrity.

http://www.des.water.ca.gov/zmwatch/what_is_a_zebra_mussel/index.cfm​

 

[grouser68]

When I first started fishing on Lake Erie all the talk was of how the zebra mussels were going to kill the fishery there. As it turned out they now praise the mussel for bringing the fishery back, and what a good thing it has been. No time to research but I am sure if you google it you will find much research, especially from the biologists around Erie.

 

[headoftheholler]

Thats the point I was getting at, there are some negatives but Dewey being just an impound (no Hydroelectric) I can't see any negatives.

 

[quackrstackr]

There's some mounting evidence that they are having an impact on certain duck populations.

The mussels are full of contaminants that have adverse effects on the ducks once eaten.

 

[AteUp]

 

[headoftheholler]

It's hard to believe something that small could filter that much water, they must breed like rabbits.

 

[Mepperson]

They also out compete native freshwater mussels, many of which are already on the decline. Add this to the other human problems they cause and it seems that there is no place for them here. It may help a small impoundment for a short time but these prolific breeders will undoubtably cause problems in the long run.

 

[smashdn]

If anything helped bring Lake Erie's fishing back it was the clean water act not an invasive species.

 

[grouser68]

If anything helped bring Lake Erie's fishing back it was the clean water act not an invasive species.

Zebra mussels and other non-native species are credited with the increased population and size of smallmouth bass in Lake Erie. [3] Zebra mussels are also believed to be the source of deadly avian botulism poisoning that has killed tens of thousands of birds in the Great Lakes since the late 1990s. [4] They also cleanse the waters of inland lakes, resulting in increased sunlight penetration and growth of native algae at greater depths. This proves beneficial for fish most of the time, helping the fish live in better conditions. This cleansing also increases water visibility and filters out pollutants.

 

[grouser68]

Lake floor food supplies are enriched by zebra mussels as they filter pollution out of the water. This biomass becomes available to bottom feeding species and to the fish that feed on them. The zebra mussel reduced eutrophication of Lake Erie[7] and increased water quality.[8] The catch of yellow perch increased 5 fold after the introduction of zebra mussels into Lake St. Claire

 

[grouser68]

Crayfish could have a significant impact on the densities of 1 to 5 mm long zebra mussels. An adult crayfish consumes an average of nearly 105 zebra mussels everyday, or in all about 6000 mussels in a season. Predation rates are significantly reduced at cooler water temperatures

 

[Valley Station]

Since the zebra mussels have moved into some of our larger lakes , like Barkley Lake, seems like big "shellcrackers" have become much more common. Don't remember many shellcrackers at Barkley 20 years ago. Locals say the world record shellcracker,around 6 lbs., from South Carolina, was due to feeding on zebra mussels and other Asian mussels.
I never realized "shellcracker" got it's name from cracking shells on their favorite food, fresh water mussels.

 

[AteUp]

Was watching one of the fishing shows here recently and they were showing some underwater footage from one of the great lakes. It was nothing but zebra mussels. No vegetation whatsoever. Everything had a layer of mussels on it.

 

[AteUp]

Crayfish could have a significant impact on the densities of 1 to 5 mm long zebra mussels. An adult crayfish consumes an average of nearly 105 zebra mussels everyday, or in all about 6000 mussels in a season. Predation rates are significantly reduced at cooler water temperatures

I doubt we have enough crayfish to even touch the mussel population.

In terms of reproduction, zebra mussels are among the most prolific of all animals. An adult female zebra mussel may produce between 30,000 and 1 million[2] eggs per year. Spawning usually begins in the months from late spring to early summer by free-swimming larvae (veligers).