Warbird Information Exchange

Zebra Mussels.

As I sit and read the account of the clean up of the Lab B-17G. I thought about those Fresh Water Mussels that had attached themselves to the metal and had deteriorated it. Are they the Zebra Mussels? I know they are becoming a huge problem in the Great lakes.

The Great lakes, which brings me to my point, could the Michigan A/C be under threat because of zebra Mussels or any other fresh water mussels?

Just thinking, but I think the Zebra Mussels are a foreign type of mussel to North America and the invasion into Labrador unlikely.

_________________
www.tailhookstudio.com

The Zebra mussels became a huge headache in the Great Lakes after being introduced by shipping from Eastern Europe which didn't properly purge their ballast tanks before entering through the seaway (although the water clarity has actually improved...). I don't think they cause any sort of adverse effects to anything they attach themselves too, but they make spotting those items much more difficult. Items that have been retrieved get treated to a high-pressure water rinse and they will come off as I understand it. I wonder if they might actually help preserve what is underneath? Jim (Jaques Coustaeu wanna-be)

_________________
Mustangs Rule!

those damned things are the scourge of great lakes wrecks!! a royal pain in the a--!!! i own a marine/ boating store on lake erie, so i now all about these pests!! they have done the following on the plus side
.......
they have cleaned up the great lakes like never before. water clarity is incredible too!
not to mention that
old ship wrecks & plane wrecks are being found like never before as well.

you ready for the negatives?? they
have dramatically changed the way people fish for perch & walleye, as they filter microscopic food that these tasty fish like to eat when they are small fry. it is more difficult to get a fish catch limit now a days because there is more light filtering in the lakes, & the fish go deeper. plus with the sunlight it is causing more algae growth. they cost tax payers billions to control, damage water treatment plants, they will cut your feet to ribbons on the beach, they get into boat bilges, intakes, boat hulls etc (granted this helps keep me in business, but i'd rather not have em) & by their massive reproduction rate they infest everything in the lakes. they are wreaking havoc on old ship wrecks & probably plane wrecks too from their sheer weight enmass!! they are causing old wrecks to collapse, & this has been documented by sport divers. some interesting statistics will put those little s.o.b.s in perspective...... the average zebra mussel is the size of a human's thumb nail, their are 30,000 mussels per square foot in the great lakes (hence the collapsing wrecks) each mussel filters about 1 quart of water per day. i say we better be scrambling to recover every plane wreck, ship wreck, or artifact we can salvage for the benefit of history. any wreck that is a grave site should of course be left alone out of respect for the dead. does that sum it up for everybody?? class dismissed!! tom the kosher kamikaze

_________________
tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Mr. Friedman wrote:




Well, many planes that have been rebuilt have had people who died in them when found. As long as you return the person's remains to the next of kin, it's still ethical.

I don't believe that they were Zebra Mussels, at least that's what I remember team members saying, but I wasn't involved with the recovery so I can't be sure.



Yes they are. The last time I talked to a recovery diver, he thought that anything deeper than ~100 feet may be ok. Above that, great deterioration in the last 10 years or so from the mussels.

I understand that the Navy was going to do a survey of Lake Michigan A/C wrecks last summer, has anyone heard the results?

i suppose i can adjust my opinion on the dead on board issue in a salvage, yes i must agree, if proper & respectful burial is accomplished i feel it is ethical too. i stand corrected!! tom

_________________
tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Hi Tom I wasn't trying to ask you to do that, but just expressing a fact I've observed.

Chris

chris, no sweat!!! i appreciate the reply, & the food for thought. that is why i re-thought the issue & i felt your revelation deserved re-thinking on my part!! all the best, tom

_________________
tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!