The BC Conservation Service is warning anyone that purchased a moss ball in Prince George within the last 3 months to be wary of a possible Zebra Muscle exposure.
“There is a concern that there were some moss balls being sold provincially that have been identified to have Zebra Mussles,” warned Eamon McArthur with the BC Conservation Service.
He says some of the moss balls possibly containing the Zebra Mussels were sold at a few locations in Prince George, but he didn’t disclose exactly which businesses they were.
“We just want people to be aware that if they find a bunch of mussels growing inside their tank not to dispose of the water, not to dispose of the tank or anything like that,” McArthur noted.
Anyone with concerns can contact the Report All Poachers and Polluters (RAPP) line at 1-877-952-7277.
McArthur says anyone that has found the mussels in their fish tank should contact the line to have a conservation officer sanitize their tank and dispose of the mussels properly.
“Because these things are so small there’s a potential that they can get into the water system and we really don’t want that,” he added, “so if you have purchased moss balls within the last three months give us a call because we can inspect them and we’ll probably end up just taking and destroying them.”
According to McArthur, there are currently no lakes in BC infested with Zebra Mussels, and he is hoping to keep it that way.
“We want to make sure BC isn’t the next place to have them growing in any of our lakes because it can create a massive ecological disaster,” he noted.