[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Zebra Mussles




>    Just to put a few fears to rest..
>    1. Shipping zebra mussels. I say again _just_kidding.
>    2. Zebra mussels getting into my local water supply. Guess where I
>got them? They_are_already_an_established_species.
>    3. I might spread them to other tanks. I'm not stupid enough to trade
>any plants from that tank. They are in a ten gallon experiment tank that
>can and will be torn down and everything boiled and sterilized. This tank
>has its own dedicated bucket, net and other sundries.

Uhm what happened to #4? :)  Remember that there larvae are microscopic
and you should really clean anything that comes into contact with this
tank, i.e. hands, arms, face, clothing, etc..

This url is there life cycle 
   http://www.siue.edu/OSME/river/zebralc.html


>    5. They may carry a disease. So might my dog. Do I have to get rid of
>him?

The nasties that zebras carry is different than the dog.  Remember where
and what zebra's do and what your dog does.  Your dog doesn't go to the
bottom of a scummy mucky water source and wallow thru the substrate that
has accumulated tons of organisms, nor does it filter all sorts of nasties
out of lake water.

   http://www.mdsg.umd.edu/seagrantmediacenter/news/algae.html


>    6. They are going to take over my tank. Once again its the ten gallon
>experiment tank so who cares. The probability of the veligers actually
>surviving to juvenile stage is highly unlikely. But that's why this is an
>experiment.

Coping this type of attitude on a public mailing list may result in some
novice attempting to 'reproduce' this in there tank,  while we may be
knowledgeable to see what this really is, they may not.


>    7. They are dangerous because they are an invasive nuisance species.
>Which of the fish/plants/snails/etc. in the hobby are not?

Well lets see the soft water plants are not invasive as they have adapted
to soft water in order to survive where other agressive plants can't
survive.  There are many fish who are non-invasive as well.

Ed