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Re: Zebra Mussels



<< Read an article in FAMA that SIU is experimenting on Zebra Mussels to clean
> up manure lagoons. Another friend mentioned that these mussels filter up so
> much Phosphorus and nutrients in the Great Lakes that the plankton
> population is too low to support Walleye frys. Any possibility on using
> them to suck up phosphorus in our tanks thus eliminating algae problems ?
> Responses anyone ? >>

NO! NO! A Thousand times NNNNOOOOO!!!!!!.  These creatures are a bane to all
waters they inhabit, at least here in North America where they have no natural
checks to control their numbers.

They will escape your tank and be introduced into where ever your old tank
water goes.  I read a report that a water sample taken from the Erie canal a
mile from its entry to the Niagara river contained 30,000 zygotes per cubic
meter.  They coat everything, and I mean EVERYTHING with a layer of zebra
mussel shells.  If you've ever seen banacles on the bottom of a boat or ship,
you can understand how this works, but you will have no comparison of how
intensely Zebra Mussels do this.  The intake of your power filters will become
clogged.  Your airstones will become covered.  The glass will be coated, the
substrate will be covered.  EVERYTHING.  It may sound like a great idea for
natural filtering, but unless you can introduce something into the tank that
will consume the zygotes as fast as the adults release them, it will end in
disaster.

Bob