MDC warns moss balls containing invasive zebra mussels could be distributed in Missouri

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is encouraging retailers and aquarium owners to check moss balls for a potential zebra mussel infestation. Moss balls containing the invasive species have been discovered in Washington state and it’s possible they were distributed to buyers in Missouri.

Zebra mussels are an invasive species that came to North American waters in international shipping ballast water and were first discovered in Lake St. Clair near Detroit in 1988. They were first reported in Missouri in 1991 in the Mississippi River near St. Louis. They’ve since spread to the Missouri, Osage, and Meramec rivers and streams downstream of infested lakes. Lakes with confirmed reports of zebra mussels include Blue Springs Lake, Bull Shoals, Carrollton Recreation Lake, Lake Jacomo, Lake Lotawana, Lake Taneycomo, Lake of the Ozarks, Prairie Lee Lake, Smithville Lake, and Longview Lake.

Zebra mussels can clog power plants, industrial and public drinking water intakes, foul boat hulls and motors, decimate populations of native freshwater mussels, impact fisheries, and disrupt aquatic ecosystems.

Any aquarium containing moss balls infected with zebra mussels also has the potential of having zebra mussel larvae (called veligers) in its water. When aquarium water is poured down drains or if the contents are dumped into a nearby creek or lake, this could introduce zebra mussels into a new body of water.

MDC urges retailers and aquarium owners who bought moss balls in the last year to check them for zebra mussels and decontaminate or dispose of if found. 

Report any zebra mussels discovered in moss balls to your local MDC Regional Office. Learn more about how to properly decontaminate zebra mussel-infected moss balls and aquariums systems from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service online at https://www.fws.gov/media/zebra-mussel-disposal-instructions.

Additional information on zebra mussel control can be found on the MDC website at https://mdc.mo.gov/wildlife/invasive-animals/zebra-mussel-control.