zebras in Millbrook

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Most of the cities around the Great Lakes get their drinking water from the lakes.
The City of Monroe MI had "the worse case scenario" when their drinking water intake plugged to less than 1/4 pumping capacity. Add to that the genusies had 2 90° bends so getting a pig through it was a REAL treat. They had a serious water emergency on their hands
Millions & millions of $$ had to be spent all around the Great Lakes installing chemical treatment injectors & new water intakes for both drinking water as well as power plants and a host of other factories.
I got a LOT of work thanks to the the critters, almost 10 year's worth, off & on.

Aside from the $$ impact, they'll attach themselves to any hard surface underwater. That means if you have sand or muck, the only place they'll latch on is to a native clam, eventually choking it off & preventing it from closing its shell. Entire areas that had native clam species have been wiped out.
Being filter feeders, they eat up the small particles that some the juvinile fish live on, and some fish populations have collapsed.

A species of diving duck is fond of snacking on the mussels, coons, otters, & rats will suck down a few too. Not really enough natural predators to make a dent though.

Water clarity improves considerably, but ya still can't see the wrecks 'cuz they get smothered with zebes.

Walleye in Lake Erie seem to be doing better because they can spawn on the new "zebe reefs" & their eggs are too big to be eaten.
 
......is the weight of them is apparantly causing some of the wrecks to collapse.....DiverDude is a charter boat captain and diver and has mentioned this on previous dives with his charter.
 
Dutch Springs is full of them too. The rumor there is someone "accidently" contaminated the quarry and vis has improved steadily over the years.

Can they actually travel on dive gear? I know a few diver who have dove at both Dutch Springs and Millbrook.

Ty
 
If your dive gear has a chance to dry out, the larvae will be killed. The zebes w/shells can last a day or more out of the water if kept damp.
You'd almost have to go directly from an infested area to the non-infested area to have dive gear be a viable transport.

It's a federal crime to intentionaly transport without a permit.
 
I think it was posted on Atlantic Diver...said they were considering draining the quarry or poisoning the water to get rid of them.

Hope they don't screw up that quarry...Rawlings is a 3.5 hour drive..
 
As much as I'd like to increase the viz around here, I sure hope those little beasties don't make it to Texas!

Thanks everyone for explaining things.
 
Great - I have my OW this weekend and next at Millbrook. I hope they don't poison it.
 
Great - I have my OW this weekend

Which beach are you going off of? We may have a group out there testing some new equipment... What shop are you doing your class with?
 
We are with Splash out of Alexandria - I don't know what beach we will be on.
 
We are with Splash out of Alexandria - I don't know what beach we will be on.

We will come by and say hello if we see you...we usually go off beach 1 which is where you will most likely be.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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