Black Carp for Mussel Control?

[Edward Gerdemann]

I'm in Missouri visiting my dad, and I was reading an article in the Missouri Conservationist magazine about invasive carp species. One of them, the black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus) was mentioned as feeding on native mussels to the point that they were declining rapidly in some of the streams. I started to wonder if this species might be able to help control the mussel population on Lake Powell. The article does not mention any other negative effects black carp have on ecosystems, and it could very well be that they might do more harm than good. Still, anytime I read something about a fish that will eat mussels I always wonder if that fish would be beneficial to Lake Powell. Just a thought.

Ed Gerdemann

 

[wayne gustaveson]

I have a video taken last week by a friend fishing near Hite that shows Lake Powell Carp leaping out of the water and grabbing mussels off an overhanging wall about a foot out of the water. (I will ask my grandson how to make this video play on WW). Carp are eating mussels now in Lake Powell.

We also know that catfish are eating mussels and digesting them well. (picture of catfish stomach below).

Many young fish are eating mussel veligers, mixed in with plankton.

Fish are doing their job now in trying to keep up with mussels which is almost impossible. So far, the fish numbers are still high and have not been overtaken by mussels. Fish populations are still producing at about the same pace as they did before quagga mussels entered the lake. I still have my fingers crossed that mussels will not deplete the forage and sport fish in the lake.

 

[John P Funk]

Wayne, have there been any estimates/studies on mussel density/population growth in Lake Powell or other lakes? Meaning, do we know if we are still in the early stages of infestation or have we reached a population peak or plateau? I assume that maximum density would be mussels on every square inch of available survivable surfaces. Just wondering how bad it could potentially become.

 

[Dorado]

Asian carp make quagga mussels seem like they are not all that bad!!! They are planktivores that decimate native and sportfish populations by devouring all the available food. To top if off, they do not bite lures, so they are not even a fun diversion. The LAST thing LP and the Colorado River needs are Asian carp!!!

It is purely my speculation, but it seems that in LP, the fluctuating water levels cause the mussels to spend much of their reproductive potential in areas that eventually dewater when the lake drops (as we see by the trillions that are left dead when the water level falls). It seems to me that LP is so dynamic, that the density will never be like that found in natural lakes...

 

[wayne gustaveson]

Wayne, have there been any estimates/studies on mussel density/population growth in Lake Powell or other lakes? Meaning, do we know if we are still in the early stages of infestation or have we reached a population peak or plateau? I assume that maximum density would be mussels on every square inch of available survivable surfaces. Just wondering how bad it could potentially become.

Mussels covered the length of the entire lake and were fully infested by 2015-16. Recently mussels have been struggling with low water and lost almost half of their population as the tall rock walls came out of the water. Now we (fish, mussels and anglers) are all happy that the lake has risen over 50 feet. Mussel keep doing their duty and will now recover the newly wet walls in short order. The fluctuating lake actually helps kill lots of mussels but we are still under a massive attack from these aggressive monsters. Its a long range battle, but so far fish are still holding their own. Lets hope it stays that way.

 

[KYKevin]

It's to bad the Striper dont eat mussel's, can you imagine how fat they would get. I watched a video on you tube, below Barkley dam in Kentucky, they were shocking the Asian carp, and it looked like a huge boil. They are killing them now by the thousand's, we will see how that battle go's. If you get a chance, watch this video, it's amazing.

 

[wayne gustaveson]

It's to bad the Striper dont eat mussel's, can you imagine how fat they would get. I watched a video on you tube, below Barkley dam in Kentucky, they were shocking the Asian carp, and it looked like a huge boil. They are killing them now by the thousand's, we will see how that battle go's. If you get a chance, watch this video, it's amazing.

We have found stripers that did eat mussels. Unfortunately, they did not chew the food properly and the mussel shells collected in the stomach and now have to be passed. Passing a mussel shell should feel about the same as passing a kidney stone. OUCH! That is not much fun.

 

[austinslam]

You don't want anything to do with Asian carp. We had a hydrilla problem down here on Lake Austin. The hydrilla made our lake a trophy Bass lake but was a nuisance in other areas. Every other year they drained the lake pretty low in the winter to kill it off and let people make boat dock repairs. With the hydrilla came clear and healthy water. Well, people didn't like the hydrilla (and drought didn't help, even though it is a constant level lake) and parks and wildlife introduced sterile Asian carp. The problem is they stocked too many. Yes, the hydrilla was eliminated but so was the rest of the vegetation. No more cover for sport and baitfish, water became less clear, and the carp made it through the dam to the lake that runs through downtown Austin. Now they attack that vegetation and even in the Colorado River a little bit. The bow fisherman wanted to do tournaments to reduce the population but the bleeding hearts didn't like that either. Fortunately the population of them is reducing and vegetation is slowly growing back. Moral of the story is be careful what you wish for. Maybe if they didn't put so many in, results would have been different.

 

[Pegasus]

Mussels covered the length of the entire lake and were fully infested by 2015-16. Recently mussels have been struggling with low water and lost almost half of their population as the tall rock walls came out of the water. Now we (fish, mussels and anglers) are all happy that the lake has risen over 50 feet. Mussel keep doing their duty and will now recover the newly wet walls in short order. The fluctuating lake actually helps kill lots of mussels but we are still under a massive attack from these aggressive monsters. Its a long range battle, but so far fish are still holding their own. Lets hope it stays that way.

Many summer-only recreational boaters that I'm friends with still don't understand what damage the mussels have done to the lake. When they have visited the lake in the summer the past few years, there has been very little evidence of the mussels as the spring runoff water level rise has covered where the mussels are most visible so they don't actually see many signs of them. I wonder if this lack of summer visibility is what drives some boaters to not follow the clean/drain/dry law when leaving the lake?