How to Protect your Process Systems from Invasive Mussels

Posted by McKenzie Thorpe on April 14, 2026 6:12 pm | Comments Off

When invasive species appear, ecosystems aren’t the only thing that suffers.

An invasive species is a non-native organism (plant, animal, etc) that is introduced to an environment where it does not naturally occur, and negatively impacts that environment through proliferating and out-competing native lifeforms.

One infamous plant, kudzu, is a prime example of an invasive species. Originally brough from Asia in the 1800’s for erosion control and other uses, kudzu is commonly referred to as the vine that ‘ate’ the southern United States by escaping cultivation and overwhelming native plant species. Today, large swaths of southern forests are carpeted with kudzu, reduced to a shadow of the diverse ecosystems that existed before the vines were introduced.

Another equally impactful invasive organism is lurking in North American rivers and lakes, with huge ramifications for industries that rely on those waterways.

Invasive Mussel Impacts

While mussels may seem small and inconsequential individually, they spread quickly and colonize waterways in large numbers.

Not only are there huge ecological consequences when invasive mussels appear, but there are significant impacts to industrial operations that rely on mussel-infested water sources.

Ecological Impacts Include:

Invasive mussels outcompete native species and consume large amounts of phytoplankton, which larval fish rely on.
Native fish and shellfish populations can collapse, upending the local ecosystem.
As the mussels overconsume algae and deplete oxygen, dangerous bacterial blooms including botulism can occur.

Industrial Impacts Include:

Applications that draw from natural water sources can become contaminated by invasive mussels.
As mussel colonies grow, they can restrict or even block flow entirely.
Chemical treatments, downtime for manual cleaning, unexpected outages, and other operation impacts can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

All across North America, freshwater ecosystems and industrial processes that rely on natural or surface water sources are under attack.

A Trans-Continental Problem

Two specific invasive mussel species—zebra mussels and quagga mussels—have become widely distributed in the Great Lakes and other critical waterways across North America. Once the mussels have infested an area, eradication is virtually impossible.

For operations that rely on infested waterways for process fluids, they are at direct risk of exposure to invasive mussels.

A New Threat: Golden Mussels

In 2024, a new species of invasive mussels was identified in Californian waterways. Native to Asia, the golden mussel (limnoperna fortunei) has begun proliferating quickly on the west coast.

Golden mussels have the potential to be even more damaging than the quagga and zebra mussels.

Because golden mussels can tolerate a wider range of salinity and water temperatures, it opens up new angles of attack on North American water systems.

Additionally, golden mussels seem to breed and spread more aggressively than the other invasive mussel species.

While California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife are carefully monitoring this new mussel threat and establishing guidelines to limit their spread, these mussels may soon pose a threat to operations beyond the state’s borders.

What can be done to prevent golden mussels and other invasive species from infiltrating and damaging critical water infrastructure?

The Cons of Conventional Mussel Control

As long as invasive mussels have been a problem, operations relying on water from lakes, rivers, and other natural sources have tried to combat them. However, the existing strategies for mussel control come with significant downsides:

Conventional screen filtration is effective at catching mussel shells and mature mussels, but mussel larvae can easily squeeze through and begin growing deeper in the water system.
Chemical treatments kill adult mussels and mussel larvae, but leave behind shells and biological debris which must be cleaned out of the system.
Manual removal is purely reactive, and may require extended downtime (and significant disruptions to productivity) to complete.

A Proven Solution: AutoFilt® Mussel-Catch

To make up for the weaknesses of screen filters and the costly manual application of chemical treatments, our product experts developed a purpose-built AutoFilt® solution for mussel control.

This dual-stage configuration combines two powerful AutoFilt® units that tackle invading mussels in every life stage:

Mussel-Catch Stage 1:
AutoFilt® RF3

Highly Efficient Coarse Filtration

The RF3 effectively stops larger solids and shells in their tracks, keeping mature mussels from entering the system and colonizing the water infrastructure.

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Mussel-Catch Stage 2:
AutoFilt® RF14

Precise Filtration for Fine, Soft Solids

Mussel larvae, which are often missed by conventional screen filters, are collected by the finer filtration capability of the RF14.