Starve the zebra mussel out of your network.
The zebra mussel does not arrive with food. It filters it out of your water: algae, bacteria, protozoa and fine organic detritus. Covex® seals the surface and cuts the light that feeds that chain. You attack the infestation at its source instead of chasing shells through your pipes.
A reservoir is the colony's nursery.
Once Dreissena polymorpha establishes, it never stops. It attaches to any hard surface, breeds in your reservoir and seeds the entire network with microscopic larvae. By the time you find a shell in a sprinkler, the infestation is already downstream. Three problems compound at once.
Clogged filters, pipes and drippers
Shells and live mussels block pump intakes, filters, valves and drip emitters. Detached shells over 30 mm travel downstream and damage meters and equipment. Pressure rises upstream, flow falls downstream, and pumping energy climbs.
Larvae seeded across the network
The reservoir breeds the colony and exports veliger larvae with every irrigation. Regulators measure significance at thresholds as low as 0.06 larvae per liter. One uncovered basin can reinfect a whole irrigation district.
Draining and manual cleaning
Conventional control means draining basins and scraping valves by hand, repeated season after season. Higher maintenance cost, more breakdowns, and shorter equipment life, on top of treatment chemicals that the mussel resists by closing its valves for weeks.
Already finding shells in filters or drippers? Tell us about your reservoir and the stage of the infestation and we assess what Covex® would change.
Assess my reservoirCut the light, cut the food.
The zebra mussel is a filter feeder whose food chain starts with light-driven algae. Covex® cuts that chain at the source. The hexagonal HDPE modules float, interlock and self-adjust to the level, with no structure, anchoring or maintenance, and sealed water ballast that holds them in place in strong wind.
Cuts the food at the source
By blocking light, photosynthesis collapses and algae growth drops by over 90%. Less algae and suspended organic matter means less of the food the zebra mussel filters to grow and reproduce.
Seals the surface permanently
50 hexagons per m² cover 98% of the surface with near-zero light penetration, day after day. No gaps, no maintenance, no algaecides or bactericides.
Recovers the water too
The same barrier cuts evaporation by up to 97%, keeps birds off the surface and reduces odors, protecting the water you already paid to store.
Where the cover changes the fight.
The biology of the zebra mussel is universal, but where Covex® helps most depends on your infrastructure. Find your operation below.
Irrigation Communities
- Break the reinfection loop: the covered reservoir breeds far fewer larvae, so it stops seeding the whole district with veligers every irrigation cycle.
- Protect shared infrastructure: fewer clogged filters, valves and emitters across the network means lower maintenance cost spread over every member.
- Modular deployment with no civil works: no structure, no anchoring, no need to drain the basin. Operational the day it is launched.
- Self-adjusting to level as the reservoir drains through the season, with no maintenance crew required.
Regulating Reservoirs
- Cut the food chain: over 90% less algae and lower suspended organic matter starve the filter-feeding colony.
- Less draining and manual scraping: fewer fouling cycles means fewer shutdowns to empty and clean.
- Recovers stored water too: up to 97% less evaporation on the same surface you are protecting.
Pressurized Networks
- Less food upstream: a basin starved of algae gives the colony less to grow on, and filters and emitters downstream carry a lighter organic load.
- Protect filtration and pumps: lower fouling reduces pressure loss, backflushing and energy at the pumps.
- Works with your treatment, not against it: Covex® is the structural foundation under chemical dosing and filtration, removing the food and the light those methods cannot.
- No light, no algae, no biofilm forming on wetted surfaces in the storage stage.
No light, no algae, less food for the colony.
The zebra mussel is a filter feeder: it grows and reproduces on the phytoplankton and suspended organic matter it pulls from the water. That food chain starts with sunlight, and that is where Covex® cuts it.
98% of the surface covered, with near-zero light penetration.
Photosynthesis collapses and growth drops by over 90%, along with suspended organic matter.
Less of the food it filters to grow and reproduce.
The food chain starts with sunlight.
Covex® covers 98% of the surface with near-zero light penetration, so photosynthesis collapses and algae growth drops by over 90%. Less algae means less of the food the colony depends on, without algaecides, bactericides or draining the basin.
The barrier works every hour of the year, with no dosing, no energy and no labor. Unlike a chemical dose, it is not a shock the mussel can wait out with its valves closed.
A powerful barrier, used as part of a strategy.
No single method eradicates the zebra mussel, and we will not claim otherwise. The animal is highly adaptable and can close its valves for weeks when it senses a chemical agent, which is exactly why chemical dosing alone so often disappoints. Covex® is the structural foundation of a control program: it removes the light and the food, working alongside proper filtration and, where needed, targeted treatment.
Removes the food and the light
Blocking 98% of solar radiation collapses algae growth by over 90% and lowers suspended organic matter, starving the filter-feeding colony of the food it draws from the water column.
Recovers the water too
The same barrier cuts evaporation by up to 97% and keeps birds off the surface, so the basin you are protecting also holds more water.
It is not a standalone cure
The mussel is adaptable and resists chemical shock by closing its valves. Covex® shifts the balance decisively against the colony, but it works best combined with filtration and, where required, targeted treatment.
24/7, with no dosing or power
The barrier works around the clock with no chemicals, no energy and no labor, and the hexagons rearrange themselves as the level changes. It ends the drain-and-scrub cycles caused by uncovered, sunlit water.
Building a control program? Tell us what you already use (filtration, treatment, draining) and we show you where Covex® fits in your strategy.
Plan my control strategyData measured on site, not catalog promises.
Applying for water-modernization or invasive-species funding? We prepare the technical report and the expected impact in the format your call requires.
Request the report packageLet's do the numbers.
Tell us about your reservoir and the infestation you are facing. We will assess whether Covex® fits your site and what it would change for your control program and your maintenance costs.
Thank you for reaching out. A Covex® specialist will review your request and get back to you.
Technical Resources
Learn how blocking light with a floating cover cuts the energy that fuels zebra mussel infestation: floating covers for zebra mussel control.