zebra mussels not so bad?

[The Mighty Ishkabibel]

We don't have them here where I fish (yet) and I will admit to not knowing a lot about them except I hear that they each filter out a lot of algae and so I hear they rob lakes of nutrients. I hear that they "clearup" water and I also hear of some lakefront owners importing them to make their green lakes clear (generally non fisherpeople) Question:, I can understand they lock up nutrients but they can't vaporize it.so, Is not the same nutrients still in the lake? At a certain point do not the zebras give it back up when they excrete wastes and when they die? After a while (I'm guessing ) their is not enough algae to support any more zebras and then the lake is at some type of (new) homostasis. It "seems" to me that walleye and other fish are doing fairly well. (only what I gleen here I certainly may be wrong) So are the zebras ALL that bad? I have also hear that walleye fry are very dependant of a type of phytoplanton,..is there any evidence that the zebras effect these?
Ish

[MAGNA19]

taste like chicken!

[bigfish1965]

While its true that the zebra mussels cannot defy the Laws of Conservation of Matter and vapourize nutrients, they do redistribute it in an unbalanced way. As filters they pull out free floating nutrients and settle them to the bottom. The entire ecosystem was developed over millions of years and was changed in what was essentially the blink of an eye. Anyone importing zebra mussels to a lake is a felon and an idiot. The damage is irreparable and immeasurable. I cannot imagine the unmitigated gall of someone willing to sacrifice an ecosystem to change the colour of the water that suits their whims.
Walleye are harmed by the mussels crowding onto shoals and destroying valuable spawning areas. In lakes without a suitable upstream run, walleye spawn on these shoals.
While lakes like Erie do look cleaner, all that has really happened is a forced settling of turbidity and toxins to the lake bed.Its still there. It reminds of an old song by a Canadian group called the 'Northern Pikes' . The song was, "She ain't pretty she just looks that way."

[The Mighty Ishkabibel]

Ok, interesting! Do you know what occurs where these z's naturally live? Do they have preditors that are more efficient at keeping them in check or do they reach a certain point of density and the other aquatic life has to survive (or not) BTW the waterfront owners are doing this illegal stockings to make their property worth more. You prob have nice clear blue lakes,..however in many places in the east they are very eutrophic to the point of you canot see more than a 1/2 inche in Aug. Looks like thick pea soup. They don't care at all about fishlife.

[bigfish1965]

Yes. Of course over thousands of years predators and prey strike a balance. The Sheepshead seem to be living off the zebra's as do the Gobies. However, like I said, this imbalance is quick and damaging. Certain lakes can never support a zebra mussel population. There must be sufficient depths to allow a wintering group to survive and reproduce the following spring.

[Bob G2]

It is ludicrous for land owners to be "importing" zebra mussels into a lake. First, and most obviously, is that their impact on the lake will be unpredictable. Even if the water clears, depending on bottom substrate, this may allow for extremely proliferative weed growth. Thus, while the lake *may* become more, or even much more clear, you may end up with a lake that is literally choked with weed growth. Not to say how they will impact fish populations. Here on Lake Michigan, the explosion of zebra mussels meant the death knell for our perch. It was a two fold bang, not enough plankton source to support swim-up fry and increased clarity allowing devestating predation by alewifes.

The impact from zebra mussels in lakes is still evolving. With regards to walleye fishing, one thing for sure is good luck if you presently have a good daytime bite. Increase water clarity significantly, and your daytime bite will become more scarce.

This sounds like logic used by those who imported silver and bighead carp. Very cavalier and dangerous.

[It all points to]

It all points to the pinhead lake property owners who dont know squat about anything but do things like poison the icky weeds so they dont have to touch them when water skiing. Or the lake owners that want the public launches removed from "their" lakes. Thye do not want tournament boats ripping up and down the shoreline at 8am so they can sleep off their hangovers till they get back out and boat like drunken idiots. Lake peoperty owners,especially those that come and buy the land and buldoze nature away to build 750,000 houses where the wildlife they champion once lived, are the worst thing to happen to any lake!