Freshwater Mussels

[GaryD]

This is a thread on Freshwater Mussels that started as an off-topic discussion in another thread.

[Tsaphah]

Does anyone know how well fresh water mussels do at cleaning out suspended solids as they are filter feeders?

[GaryD]

Hi,



Does anyone know how well fresh water mussels do at cleaning out suspended solids as they are filter feeders?


While I'm aware of a few attempts at growing freshwater mussels, most of them seem to lapse eventually. Although, as you've pointed out, they are filter feeders, the number that would could be kept in an AP system would not be able to remove all of the solids from the system.....even if it was fairly modestly stocked.

Gary

[Dufflight]

Mussels are great for water polishing. I have a couple of hundred in my system. But when you throw some into a seperate tank connected into the system you see how much they can affect the water quality.

[GaryD]

Mussels are great for water polishing.

They might be.....but only in conjunction with other solids removal strategies.

[aussieap]

I delivered some grow beds to Steve at Otway Yabbies last week. He has a few trays of mussels in some of his yabby tanks to help with water filtration. The water looks VERY clear. Under each tray tho was a very fine deposit of solids almost like powder. He just siphons this out every now and then as it gathers in one spot.
So yes, they help with filtration but would need to be part of an overall solids removal strategy as Gary says.

[Tsaphah]

I understand that they are not the primary filter system, but they would help from what folk like Duff & Aussieap are saying.
It would also add to the menue!:cool:

[Dufflight]

Why there is a small buildup on the bottom of these tanks is mussels and yabbies have a flocking quality that helps the particles settle.

[GaryD]

It would also add to the menue!

While I haven't eaten them myself, I've heard other people say that they aren't all that good to eat. Perhaps others here may have tried them and might want to venture an opinion.

Gary

[Tsaphah]

If you dont eat them, you could always feed some to your fish. Jade & silver perch, barra and sleepy cod would all enjoy as a treat.

[GaryD]

I'll have to take a closer look at them.

[MarkEinOz]

http://www.aquablueseafoods.com.au/other-mussels.shtml

[GaryD]

Cheers Mark,

Sometime back, I thought I might get some mussells and then I read a couple of things that made me question that it was worth the effort. It might be time to re-assess the whole idea.....if only for the fact their inclusion in my integrated backyard food production concept makes for one more integration.

Gary

[aussieap]

Handy read, thanks for the link.

[MarkEinOz]

Cheers Mark,

Sometime back, I thought I might get some mussels and then I read a couple of things that made me question that it was worth the effort. It might be time to re-assess the whole idea.....if only for the fact their inclusion in my integrated backyard food production concept makes for one more integration.

Gary


In principle I think Mussels are a great idea to keep in racks in a duckweed tank or similar but there is one thing only that bothers me.

Mussels being filter feeders do one thing very well. They remove BACTERIA and algae as well as solids. The bacteria bit freaks me out. Could they upset the balance of the 2 bacteria sp. in the water that the system depends on??

If you had a very lightly stocked FT then I would be quite concerned if I had a hundred odd mussels polishing up the water. A heavy fish load may well be assisted by the mussel support, but it is a tough one as we have nothing to benchmark the effectiveness of mussels in AP, well that I can find anyway!

[Tsaphah]

Quote: They remove BACTERIA and algae as well as solids.

Guess it depends on where you put them in your system, but I feel that they would not remove sufficient bacteria in order to affect the ballance. As long as they do not get into the bio filter itself, and the system would already be seeded, they should cause no issues. It was at the same site that Mark mentioned that I was looking at that got me thinking about the use of them in a system.

[fuzvulf]

Don't know if this will help anyone but, my nephew builds garden (backyard) ponds. He tried putting freshwater muscles in his behind his house. After no time at all they had babies and the young ones were everywhere in it. He ended up having to replace his bio-filter taking his fish out and sterilising the whole thing. The small ones kept rooting through his biofilter with their tongue foot to move around. It seems like especially if someone were using NFT the little ones might get in there and maybe stop up the drain hole causing overflows. I had thought about getting some until he told me about his experience. Hope this helps.

Fuzzy Wolf