Texas Boaters Ck this out - (Zebra Mussels)

[mgabsa]

I received this email and thought I would share. I'm sure many of you, TX boaters, already have heard about this. @txav8r I think I saw this is a lake you have listed, if so have you seen this problem?




Your help is needed to stop zebra mussels - Clean, drain and dry your boat. It's the law.
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Dear Boater,

Our lakes and rivers are under attack by zebra mussels. This destructive invasive species damages boats, harms aquatic life, litters beaches with their sharp shells and clogs water intakes – increasing bills for both boat owners and city taxpayers. Lake Texoma, Ray Roberts, Lewisville, Bridgeport, Belton and Lavon are already infested – and without your help, zebra mussels could spread throughout the state. Watch this short video to learn more.

​

It’s Illegal to Transport Zebra Mussels
When you boat this summer, adult zebra mussels or their microscopic larvae could hide in your boat and trailer. By hitching a ride on boats like yours, zebra mussels can spread and infest new lakes across Texas.

It is illegal to possess or transport zebra mussels knowingly or unknowingly. In addition, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission has approved expanding from 47 North and Central Texas counties to statewide the rule requiring boaters to drain all water from their vessels, including live wells, bilges, motors, and any other receptacles before leaving or approaching a water body. This applies to all types and sizes of boats used on public fresh waters, effective July 1.

Don’t Be a Carrier: Clean, Drain, Dry
Prevent the spread of zebra mussels by always following these steps:

CLEAN off any vegetation, mud or foreign objects on your boat, trailer and gear before you leave the lake. Adult zebra mussels attach to hard surfaces such as boat hulls and motors.

DRAIN all water from your boat. Zebra mussel larvae are invisible to the naked eye and can hide in the water in your motor, bilge, live wells and bait buckets.

DRY your boat and trailer for a week or more before entering another water body. It’s a surefire way to kill any remaining zebra mussels.

Visit TexasInvasives.org/ZebraMussels to find more information.

Thank you for doing your part to stop the spread of these destructive invaders.

 

[Bruce]

Thanks for sharing, I added Zebra Mussels to the title.

 

[txav8r]

Yes, I received the email as well. They are a problem, especially for utilities moving water and for boaters that leave their boats or equipment in the water. For us, it is more about transporting them. We all know the engines/exhausts/waterboxes, hold water and revving the engines evacuates much of the water, but it will still be standing in the water boxes, weeks/months/year beyond the week they ask you not to launch in another lake. And they don't die in a week if water is present. The thought is that water will evaporate in a week. I have found water in my waterbox after a full off season of storage! So I am not sure what the remedy is for us, but there is another thread working on this now too. A product called Wet and Forget is reported to work well to kill them in small quantities. So the question is, to meet the requirements of the law, all water must be drained and no transport of them "knowingly or unknowingly" is allowed. This kind of defeats the idea of actually killing the larvae. We can't actually drain all water from our boats (waterbox), but knowing all of this and doing what you can is the main thing...we don't want to spread this invasive species anymore than it has already.

 

[steined]

Can a drain cock - http://www.spadeconnect.com/brass-fittings/special-adapters/drain-cock/ - be added to the waterboxes that could be opened to drain the rest of the water out of them? I don't really know how they work. I am envisioning a chambered muffler that is surrounded by another "box" of aluminum that is cooled with water and that the water also acts to muffle some of the noise. I just don't know for sure how they work. I imagine the pressure and temperature aren't too far out of the realm of plumbing related valves and fittings. Just a thought.

 

[txav8r]

My 230 waterbox's did not contain baffles to any degree. I do not know what is inside the 240 boxes. But my thought was a fitting on the tops, so that you could open the inspection port, the fitting, and just stick your vacuum pump tube down there and drain it. A drain on the bottom sounds doable, but reaching it will be impossible on the port side engine, without removing the clean out tray I think...unless we can come up with a way to do it. I like the idea of draining them. The issue I see, is that the jack won't raise the bow high enough to drain them completely and taking up time on the ramp to do all of this may not work. There is a way to do this, and I wish Yamaha would incorporate it into the design in the future.

 

[Gym]

When I replaced my scupper valve I removed my starboard side water box. While I had it outside of the boat I picked it up and turned it over to drain it. I must have done this at least a dozen times but still heard water sloshing around inside. I think trying to drain it will be difficult at best. I'm hoping a heating or chemical process will be able to remedy the problem without affecting the boat or its fixtures..

 

[davel501]

The only way to be sure is to either use your boat in lakes that have the zebra mussels or those that do not but not both. The lakes I am on have just about everything except Asian Carp so I just don't take my boat anywhere. It is easier for me since I live on a chain of about 15 lakes and a bunch of river that covers about 45 miles but it still sucks. There are some wonderful lakes in northern Wisconsin that look black because they are so clear and deep.

 

[txav8r]

There is an inexpensive bait on the horizon in the future. It is supposed to render them unable to reproduce. It'll be Kind of like fire ant control. Hope it works!

 

[farrelltravis]

I heard a rumor that the COE was draining (to a certain degree) Lake Texoma to help kill zebra mussels. I have no idea the truth of that though.

 

[PEARCE]

They're draining Texoma to Lake Lavon for the drinking water supply to a majority of the DFW metroplex. Lavon is already infected with the mussels and they have figured out a way of keeping the mussels from clogging the intake pipes. Lavon is still a little more than half full and it should be full this time of year.

 

[jawsf16]

Actually they are running two filters from what I understand. They use one until it clogs with our zebra friends, then switch while they clean the other and repeat perpetually.

 

[cane.mba]

When we run our engines on a flush hose, does the water flow into the water box? If so, would adding bleach or anti-freeze kill the larvae? How warm is the water in the water box?


Found this online..

* If the boat will be put into another body of water within a week, wash boat parts, accessories, the bilge, live well, pumping system, and bait buckets with a high-pressure sprayer. Hot water, 140 degrees F, will kill zebra mussel veligers. A 10 percent solution of household chlorine bleach and water can be used to wash the boat and/or live wells. Do not wash the boat at ramps where the solutions could drain into the lake.

 

[txav8r]

Here is another thread about this topic. @waterboy suggests, as a water treatment professional, that bleach is not the right thing to use on this creature. And says that Wet and Forget will kill them easy, larvae, adult, and not harm near as toxic as bleach. I did a little digging and it appears to be an interesting approach.

https://jetboaters.net/threads/method-to-kill-zebra-quagga-in-waterbox.1954/

 

[txav8r]

And I found the link to a report that came out this past February that there is a biocide in the works showing excellent promise! Here is the article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/25/science/science-takes-on-a-silent-invader.html?_r=0
And here is the medical report on the biocide...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23295683