Re: California Boaters Caution - Quagga Mussels
At this point the only thing boat wash stations and the like are doing is slowing the spread of the Quagga.
The best way to kill them is with vinegar and hot water solution. Run it through all areas of your boat where water collects. Bleach works too, but I don't advise it.
Quaggas and Zebra mussels are in pretty much abundance in the eastern US. But how far have they spread west of the 100th Meridian? The following is a list and approximate timeline for the spread in the West.
Jan 2007: Discovered in Lake Mead
Jan 2007: Discovered on Intake to LA Met Water District, Lake Havasu
Mid 2007: Discovered on Colorado River, Parker Strip
Mid 2007: Discovered on Intake to CAP (Central Arizona Project)
Late 2007: Discovered in CAP system in Scottsdale, AZ
Late 2007: Discovered in Miramar, Murray, Lower Otay & San Vicente Resevoirs, San Diego
Late 2007: Discoverred in Lake Pleasant, AZ
Early 2008: Zebra Mussels discovered in Pueblo Lake, Colorado
Early 2008: Zebra Mussels discovered in San Justo Resevoir, Central California
From first Western discovery on Lake Mead in January 2007, Quaggas and/or Zebras have spread to Central Arizona, Central and Southest California. The've been found in a Colorado Lake. That's a very short 1 year period. Could your Lake (and source of vital drinking water) be next?
These things don't grow legs and walk from lake to lake, nor are they transported by wildlife. Humans are the ones spreading the mussels across the country. Not intentionally, but accidently in recreational boats, tournament fishing boats and re-located commercial boats. Help stop the spread of Zebra and Quagga mussels.
So, what are they?:
A brief overview of the Quagga Mussel taken from Wikipedia:
The quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) is one of seven Dreissena species. This species is indigenous to the Dnieper River drainage of Ukraine.
The quagga mussel was first observed in North America in September 1989 when it was discovered in Lake Erie near Port Colborne, Ontario. It was not identified as a distinct species until 1991. The species was called the quagga Mussel after the quagga, an extinct subspecies of African zebra, possibly because, like the quagga, its stripes fade.
It causes many of the same problems (damaging boats, power plants, and harbors and destroying the native mussel population) as the equally invasive Zebra mussel of Russia. It is also displacing native burrowing amphipod (Diporeia hoyi) from the deep waters of Lake Erie.
The quagga mussel shell is striped, as is that of the Zebra mussel, but the quagga shell is paler toward the hinge. There are a large range of shell morphologies, including a distinct morph in Lake Erie that is pale or completely white.
In 1994, invasive species biologist Anthony Ricciardi determined that yellow perch did not find the invasive dreissenid species palatable. In 2004, he determined that yellow perch, over the intervening 10 years, had developed an appetite for the Quagga mussel. While sounding like good news, it is tempered with the knowledge that it introduces contaminants into the food chain, notably Clostridium botulinum.
In January 2007, quagga mussels were discovered at a marina in the Nevada portion of Lake Mead, and two other lakes on the Colorado River, Lake Mohave and Lake Havasu. [1]
