Was this the biologist taking underwater photographs of NMZS at Access 5 on Friday? I talked to him very briefly about the NMZS. He said research at Putah hasn't shown any dramtic decline in aquatic insects due to NMZS. However, he said the outlook isn't encouraging as the NMZS population continues to grow; he noted mayfly declines in other U.S. waters. I asked him about any natural parasites or diseases that could potentially kill the NMZS. He said there is a parasite native to New Zeland that renders NZMS sterile. Unfortunately introducing this parasite would have a negative impact on American waters as well. In any case, it was good to see Putah getting research attention since it seems like this creek gets neglected in terms of fish/game enforcement and fishery management.

Same guy. The parasite is a fluke larval stage that uses the snail as a host. The adult fluke is a blood parasite of aquatic birds, especially waterfowl. One of the fears is that the fluke could severely affect local birds and then be spread outside the area by the birds and into our native snails through out the country. The NZ fluke is related to US parasites phylogenetically. Have you heard of the condition called "swimmers itch"? This is caused by the immature flukes that break out of the local native snail host and are looking for a bird to infect. They penetrate the bare skin of waders or swimmers and crawl around under the skin because they are in the wrong host and can't get into our blood vessels. Eventually you make an immune response which kills the fluke; the immune response also causes the same hive type reaction as experienced with allergies except its in the worm tunnels in the skin. Eagle Lake is notorious for the problem in the summer. Google or wikipedia blood fluke, swimmers itch, schistosome. There, that is much more info than you need or probably want.

S.

Copper Sulfate is an old time molluscicide and algicide that is safe for mammals, fish and birds in the concentrations they would use-I believe he has found NZs in the first 3 sections of the canal and that might be part of the maintenance scenario.