Killing Zebra Mussles in a BCD

When diving in affected waters, the chance of Zebra Mussles entering your BCD and hitching a ride back to new waters is almost assured. So, the question is, how do you make certain you have killed the little buggers?

Would a wash out with pure Listerine mouth wash do it?

Any suggestions from people who live in the effected areas would be great. We are planning 2 trips to effected areas this year and would like to be prepared.

What exactly ARE the affected areas? And what do they look like?

The concern is carrying near microscopic larvae on the gear or in the BC.

I wonder if the larvae are capable of surviving dessication. (drying out completely)

If you drain all the water and let it completely dry before diving agin I wonder if that would be enough.

TwoBit

Try this.....

Sorrry.......

According to Dive Training magazine, June issue,
“ All dive equipment should be thoroughly checked and cleaned, especially the buoyancy compensator (BC) and other items that retain water, and rinsed with hot water (more than 140 degrees Fahrenheit). After a final rinse with clean fresh water, divers should allow all gear and equipment to dry completely before diving again.”

PaulB once bubbled...
What exactly ARE the affected areas? And what do they look like?

Click to expand...

Pretty much every river and major fresh body of water east of the Mississippi. They come from Eastern Europe and are extremely aggressive mollusks. They are razor sharp and coat almost everything they touch. They filter the water and give it outstanding clarity but their growth is unchecked by nature so they are throwing the local eco systems out of balance.

I'm no scientist, but I'm sure if you simply drain your BC there shouldn't be any problems. I do this as a matter of routine anyway.
Zebra mussels are nasty little buggers. Thier shells will cut you up real good given the chance and they cover EVERYTHING. Used to be you could go down on a wreck around here and everything would pretty much be as it went down. Now goodies are camoflaged by these things.
There is one upside. They really clean the water. Years ago the viz around here on a good day was twenty feet. Now, fifty and more are not uncommon. Of couse they do this while they are eating all the plankton the fish need to survive. Oh well.

Jim

Straight Listerine will work to kill off the larvae, as will a moderately dilute bleach solution. (soak in the swimming pool).
I put together a Zebra Mussel page almost 10 years ago when the critters were first showing up over here in the Great Lakes: http://www.angelfire.com/ca/divers3/zebramussels.htm
(I'll have to go through there & check/clean any dead links.)

Drying out the equipment may seem like the simplest solution, however the problem is that on a dive trip you may not have the days needed to do this effectively. I have noticed water in my BCD that has had it's dump valves removed, up to three weeks after being hung up to dry out.

I've thought of using a blow dryer on low setting and duct taping it to one of the openings for the dump valve, and letting the warm air flow through the BCD to the other removed dump valve. But this still may not be enough to kill the hardy little buggers when in a trip.

If listerine in an undiluted solution is proven to work, great! If not then it's the bleach. Question being what concentration would be needed to sterilize the BCD and other equipment 20%, 40%, 60%? Too strong and you run the risk of causing damage to your equipment, too week and you're just wasting time.

I've sent an eMail to the Dept. of Natural Resources, hopefully they will know the answers, at the very least they should be able to direct me to a source that knows. If and when I get a response, I'll forward it to the board. Being a government agency they may take some time to respond.

High temp fresh clean water works best, then letting the equipment dry. The power companies use high presure water with added chlorine to clean their pipes.