Simms boots

[Casey A. Wood]

I just read this in this week's Midcurrent: "Apparently Simms has been working hard behind the scenes to develop a hard-rubber wader sole that performs as well as felt but addresses the problem of aquatic hitchhikers being carried from stream to stream. They've partnered with Vibram to produce the first and only fishing-specific Vibram sole. In field testing, Simms' new sole has shown to have all the performance attributes of felt, only the soles have the environmental benefits (they don't soak and hold water and they dry quickly) of rubber. The new soles will come out in late 2008, as part of their new 2009 line."
I have looked at the AquaStealth, and they work ok I guess. My brother has a pair and likes them a lot. Some of you guys have themmalso, I think But they don't in extre wide, or at least the ones down to LL's don't.
I can't wait to see these Simms when they come out.

[Banks10]

This would be pretty cool.
I have pretty much given up on wearing waders anymore (I will wear them in winter) because of this problem. It would be great if these boots proved to be as good as felt. I haven't tried the aquastealth's yet.

[s2ary]

I worry about the sipped soles on Aquastealths. I would think that hitchhikers could get in the thin slits and stay alive.

The real thing is no matter what, as long as they didimo is in the system all we can do is slow it down. We need to sterilize those sections of the river and get it out.

Does anyone have any links to any successful control or solutions?

[SIslandBrowns]

The NZ biohazard site has the best info that I've seen...

http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/didymo

Check out the piece on the eradication attempt made with the GEMEX product. Somewhat promising on one level, but it shows how difficult the challenge really is... You can't clean everywhere at once and the cleaned areas ended up getting reinfected within a year - presumably by livestock per the site. (I'm sure that NH livestock would never do such a thing - damn kiwi cows and sheep should know to sterilize with Oxyclean and wear proper rubber boots! Same goes for the kiwi ducks, geese and cormorands!)

All kidding aside - when I think about how impossible containment really is it makes me sick.

Plus, there were a myriad of other aspects of collateral damage and who knows what impacts are longer term to the water supply. The bottom line is that there does not seem to be much that can be done about didymo, unfortunately. Cleaning efforts were widely publicized and supported by all the lodges in NZ and by looking at the main map on the bio-hazard site - didymo is now EVERYWHERE.

[s2ary]

Didimo is now everywhere...is exactly my concern. Once it starts there seems to be no stopping it.

My Yankee view is to salt the piss out of the river. I'm pretty sure that salt kills didimo, and everything else that can't move. but it is a small price to pay to save a river.

As the salt trickles away from the infected area it loses it's punch quickly and the area will recover within a few years. Trout are salt tolerant and all of the trout species in our rivers are capable of going out to sea. Any other fish species that can not relocate out of the salty section, is a loss, but again it is better than losing the whole river. And the river will recover.

We pour so much salt on our roads each winter, we have mountains of salt at every major port. I would have no problem spreading an inch or two of salt across an infected river bed and allowing it to melt off over the next few weeks. The best part is, as you point out because the salt dissolves in the water and washes through the section, any missed spots will still be effected by the salty water.

Yes, a lot will be effected by the salt, but it is better than losing the river and then the next one and the one after that. If NZ is an example, conservative equipment treatment is but a feel good effort that only slows the process. Didimo is here, and the best defense is the strongest offense. I say light'em up and get it over with while we still have that option. If we let it spread to everywhere it is done.

[Casey A. Wood]

Kype, what do you think about the salt thing? Last year, on didymo, I had made a comment about using ainc or copper sulphate to kill it, and was booed . I think somethink in the chemical line might be effective. Shoot, theyuse it on lakes for milfoil!!

[s2ary]

The downer with heavy metal based herbicides like copper sulfate is it causes major fish kills as it migrates down the system and takes a long time to clear out. Try throwing a few pennies in a friends fish tank. Time is relative, but if that's what it takes... Nuc it, we can rebuild the system after the didimo is gone.

Salt should be just as effective without the accompanied fish kill, or at least not to the same degree. The salt works in one of two ways through the process of osmosis. It either enters the host cells and ruptures the cell membranes by sucking in more water. Or more commonly by sucking the water across the cell membrane and out of the cell, again destroying the cell.