Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Dangers Of Zebra Muscle Infestation

Living near Cleveland I've seen both the benefits and drawbacks that zebra muscles have had on certain bodies of water. Personaly, in my opinion it's been a plus for Lake Erie in certain respects. However, many of the local lakes are now infected with this animal. Some it's helped (filter out polution and increased water clarity on very dingy lakes), but of course there is such a thing as too much water clarity.

Anyway, I've been trying to manage a friend's 3 and 1/2 acre lake. A few times I've taken emerald shiners or fatheads bought at the local bait shop to fish with. I always check whats left to make sure no undersireable fish are mixed in before dumping them in the lake and leaving.

Still, the other day it hit me...Fatheads are usually pen raised but as far as I know emerald shiners are not. My point is that I'm now worried about the risk of zebra muscle contamination. I did a little reading and the larva stage of a zebra muscle is too small for the naked eye to see. Not good, but from what I gather they breed when the water temperture raises above 55. Being that I've only used minnows out there for ice fishing thus far are the odds lower for infestation? Hate to walk up there one day and see thousands of zebra shells washed up on shore.

One other thought. We've stocked about 180 shellcrackers to control any potential snail/parasite problems that might pop up. Has anybody seen any studies that indicate that shellcrackers will feed on at least young zebra muscles? Also curious if they can be used to eradicate them from lakes already infected.

Zebra mussels breed faster than the shellcrackers can eat them. Shellcrackers are not very prolific like bgill. But it also will depend on how much proper substrate is available for mussel long-term growth habits. Perch, goby, sheephead, pumpkinseed sunfish are also known to eat zebra mussels (various sizes).

I see very little if any ecological benefit yet to zebra mussels in Lk Erie. The phosphorus from the zebra mussel manure has contributed to renewed blue-green algae blooms in western L. Erie. The zebra mussel manure is one foot thick in some areas of the lake.
Z. mussels attach to the native & beneficial mussels and smother them. Zebras are eliminating the native mussels/clams from Lk.Erie.

Clearer water has reduced the overall productivity of the lake and fish biomass is now somewhat lower.
Clearer water is encouraging growth of deep water weed beds. Clearer water does sometimes help a walleye egg hatch, but wind speed and direction is probbly more important. Lack of plankton after egg hatch probably counteracts much of the hatching success. What good is it if you hatch and don't have anything to eat because zebra mussels ate your food?.
Fishermen used to be able to catch lots of walleye all summer long in shallow areas of Western L. Erie. Now they have to travel long distances off shore to deep water and catch fewer fish per hour. Overall catch rates are down compared to prezebra mussel introductions.

Some of the bioaccumulative pollution "filtered out" by the zebra mussels is showing up now in the SMB who are eating goby (who eat mussels) and crayfish that are grazing on the zebra mussel manure. The 'pollution' will no doubt exist as elevated levels in some other fish as well.
I won't go into the commercial/industrial problems caused by z. mussels.
I think we were much better off without them.

I know of no one who has gotten emerald shiners to breed regularly in ponds. Many have tried unsuccessfully. Anyone who succeeds can become fairly wealthy.

Many of the emerald shiners on the bait market come from Wisconsin. The Wisconsin bait dealers association has put its members through a HACCP course to learn to recognize and avoid zebra mussels. Further, they do not load any water from the harvest area, and take other preventative steps in the harvest procedure. There is very little risk of spreading zebra mussels through emerald shiners from Wisconsin. Other emeralds are harvested in the east, and I can not speak for how those are handled. We have had some Emerald Shiners reproduce in large ponds in our area.

The vast majority of Fathead Minnows on the bait market come from Minnesota and the Dakotas. Currently, there is no problem with zebra mussels in their waters. However, they have a program in place to close harvesting in the specific waters if zebra mussels appear.

An article appeared in our local paper on this subject.

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

Excellent/interesting article, Russ. Thanks for the link.