Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking mussel problem

Hi guys. I feel like I already know most you as I've been gathering tons of great info here for about a month. But this is my first post. One thing I've searched for, but have not seen much about is mussels. Our six acre pond is great for fishing but we also swim in it. The last couple of years, we have been noticing these 4-5" oval, black mussels invading the beach area and last year one of the kids had to get stitches in their foot because of the sharp edge on those things. My question is... will CC and RES clean these things out? Or how do we get rid of these things? We were thinking that RES would get the smaller ones while the CC would get the larger ones. Problem is that there are already plenty of 6-8 lb. cats in there. We currently have no RES that we know of. Can anyone help here?

Welcome to the PB forum. Here is a link to a post by Bill Cody the resident invertebrate specialist. He may be able to add more. A picture of the culprit would help.


http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=000101;p=2#000017

Potassium chloride seems to work on zebra mussels without harming fish, so maybe it would work on others? Here's a link to a site where a quarry was treated. Link is thanks to someone on here:

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/zebramussels/

A simpler solution would be to wear old sneakers when swimming or wading or the new plastic sandals that are now in style.

I tried a google search to find a picture of one with no luck, so I'll see if I can post digital pics within the next few days.

Do they look like any of these? Since you're not too far from the Great Lakes is it possible they may have been introduced somehow? I do know zebras are know to be sharp and to cut swimmers feet.

Cecil- I think we will find out that he has the papershell or aka floater - Pyganodon(Anodonta) grandis.It is a common lake & pond mussel with a thin sharp shell in Ohio - midwest. Hopefully "zfisher" can get some good photos of external and internal views of the shells.

Yes, I looked up the papershell aka floater, and that is what we have. Will RES help to control these? Or should I try to find potassium chloride?