Zebra Muscles Suck :(

[maj2]

Keep in mind that scuba divers can be a vector for the spread of zebra mussels. They probably got into the quarries in the first place by hitchhiking on a BCD or other piece of gear.
This newsletter from the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute (May/June 2003) has an interesting piece on page 2 about how divers can help reduce the spread of zebra mussels. See "Divers May Ofer Rides to Aquatic Hitchhikers"
http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/Communications/news/documents/DriftmayJune03.pdf.
Not sure I buy their claim that divers may intentionally introduce zebra mussels to a location to improve the viz, but the balance of the article is interesting and informative.

 

[Randy43068]

So with the hot weather here I'm diving mostly without my gloves, and was pulling myself along some railroad tracks and well now I can't hold a pen LOL. The're getting better but i scratched em up pretty bad. I guese i should get a lighter pair of gloves for the warm weather.

Well dive and you learn they'll get better It was a fun dive anyway been looking for thoughs damn tracks for three weeks and finally found them.

Maybe you could try a pair of thin tight fitting leather gloves from Sam's or Wal-Mart. Since they don't cost a lot (7-8 bucks) I replace 'em at the start of the dive season.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

My husband uses a pair of the cloth gardening/work gloves that have a nubbly rubber coating on the palms/fingers and they work well for him.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[diverbrian]

I'm using the neoprene gloves with kevlar coating. They crunch Zebra Mussels real nice . Look Ma, no cuts either.

 

[Tagerisatroll]

Not sure I buy their claim that divers may intentionally introduce zebra mussels to a location to improve the viz, but the balance of the article is interesting and informative.

I agree they probably are off base on that, Rec boaters proably a more likely vector than divers in most lakes.

Maybe you could try a pair of thin tight fitting leather gloves from Sam's or Wal-Mart. Since they don't cost a lot (7-8 bucks) I replace 'em at the start of the dive season.

My husband uses a pair of the cloth gardening/work gloves that have a nubbly rubber coating on the palms/fingers and they work well for him.
Ber :lilbunny:

I'm using the neoprene gloves with kevlar coating. They crunch Zebra Mussels real nice . Look Ma, no cuts either.

Some good Ideas, My 6mm gloves are over kill during the summer. I was about to get some warm water reef gloves 1mm with the Kevlar coating but they seemed like over kill for the zebra's. Never even considered using the cheap garden cloves from walmart but i bet they would work pretty good.

Thanks

 

[gtxl1200]

My husband uses a pair of the cloth gardening/work gloves that have a nubbly rubber coating on the palms/fingers and they work well for him.
Ber :lilbunny:

them sound like french ticklers to me

 

[SDAnderson]

Zebra mussels are filter feeders and that have dramatically cleared the water of lots of stuff, including the silt that was responsible for such terrible visibility in the Great Lakes for so many decades. They've also filtered out a lot of pretty disgusting toxins. This is good.

Additionally, the reality is that there is more algae in the water now than before the mussels arrived. As they filter out the crud, light is better able to penetrate and the algae is able to photosynthesize and grow. Ten years ago algae blooms were a very rare occurence in Lake Michigan, now they are an annual event. As with the algae, so too the seaweed - harbors that used to be mostly devoid of seaweed have been mowing these past few years to keep the stuff down and we're seeing increasing amounts of it outside the harbors. This is also good.

All-in-all, the zebra mussel is hard on man-made things like gloves and wrecks and boat hulls and water intakes. This is bad. Overall, however, they seem to be having a salutory effect on the lake ecology. The water is clearer, cleaner and the algae and seaweed are starting to come back. A couple of years ago the perch population crashed, largely due to loss of cover for the fry as the water cleared. Now that the algae and seaweed are back, the fry are able to hide again and the population is recovering pretty quickly.

It's popular to cry doom and gloom about the little suckers (and they do stink) but the visibility is better than it has been in several generations and the lakes seem to be coming back to life. Now if the round head gobies (that displaced the native sculpin) will eat enough of the mussels, things should find some kind of equilibrium. Around here, the density of the mussel encrustation seems to have been dwindling over the past couple of years, so there may be cause for some hope that they won't continue to be so insanely omnipresent.

 

[ciret]

I use the gardening gloves, work great for $1.98

 

[Ber Rabbit]

them sound like french ticklers to me

I'll be right back
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[gtxl1200]

I'll be right back
Ber :lilbunny:

You just made my day ber, I'm laughing so hard right now I think I'm going to pee myself. Thanks for making my day.