Big changes coming to Audubon Aquarium in New Orleans; see the plans here - NOLA.com

Posted: 27 Mar 2021 10:16 PM PDT

At age 31, the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas is up for a makeover.

The Audubon Nature Institute says it plans to close the aquarium's Entergy Giant Screen Theater, move the building's main entrance downriver, add 2,500 square feet by enclosing a breezeway along the front of the building and convert 17,000 square feet of interior space to exhibits and classroom use. Contractors also will upgrade mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, audiovisual and security systems.

Details are still being worked out. Audubon said the New Orleans architecture firm Eskew Dumez Ripple is working with CambridgeSeven, a Massachusetts architecture firm known for designing public spaces, and Cortina Productions, a Virginia firm known for museum design, on the changes.

The institute operates the aquarium and other attractions for the Audubon Commission, a public agency. The commission has scheduled a virtual public meeting about the aquarium plans on Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Anyone interested may submit comments and questions through the institute's website.

Audubon Nature Institute opened the aquarium in 1990 in the newly created Woldenberg Riverfront Park. Since then, a generation of children have run through its corridors, knowing where to find the albino alligator, how to identify the nurse sharks sitting at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico tank and how to wend their way to the group of smaller fish tanks holding orange clownfish that looked like Nemo and wispy sea dragons camouflaged within the seaweed.

In recent years, even as the aquarium closed an indoor playground where children ran off steam, it added the popular Parakeet Pointe, which brought in revenue with food sticks that sold for a dollar. Last year, Audubon announced that it was closing the Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium in the nearby U.S. Custom House. Those exhibits, including a glass-roofed Butterfly Pavilion, will be relocated to the second floor of the aquarium.

Crippled by tourism drop, Audubon to shutter Insectarium; eyes move of exhibits to Aquarium

The brutal chill that the coronavirus put on New Orleans tourism has claimed one of the city's top attractions for children.

Inside the renovated aquarium, the design is to include "a multi-story glass curtain wall and custom monumental stair," said the institute, which expressed the hope that newly created galleries will "link Audubon's conservation efforts that protect endangered species, habitats and nature to experiences that spark individual action."

Or as institute President Ron Forman put it: "We are looking forward to our next chapter, creating an experience that illuminates our visitor's relationship with the natural world and how their actions can do a world of good."

After almost dying, long rehab in New Orleans, rare sea turtles are released on Grand Isle

Cold stunned in Cape Cod, Mass., turtles are nursed back to life by Audubon Institute

Check your aquariums! Zebra mussels have been found in aquarium plant products - KTAB - BigCountryHomepage.com

Posted: 05 Mar 2021 12:00 AM PST

Zebra mussel inside the aquarium plant product called "moss balls." (Courtesy: Texas Parks & Wildlife Department)

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A plant meant for aquariums in the United States and imported from the Ukraine could contaminate your aquarium with invasive zebra mussels, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

The plants are called "moss balls" but technically they aren't moss. Instead, they're a type of algae used for decoration and to help improve aquarium health. They're often used in betta fish aquariums and are sometimes sold as "Beta Buddy Marimo Balls," "Mini Marimo Moss Balls" and "Marimo Moss Ball Plants." TPWD says stores should remove these items from shelves, and customers should dispose of them.

People can safely dispose of moss balls by drying or freezing them or by putting them into a plastic zipper bag and then tossing them in the trash.

"Zebra mussels have already been introduced into many Texas lakes and are causing changes to the ecosystem along with damage to boats, water supply and control infrastructure," said Brian Van Zee, TPWD Inland Fisheries regional director. "It is important that we take all possible precautions to prevent them from being introduced elsewhere."

Zebra mussels are small shellfish that have triangular, brownish shells often with zebra stripes, hence the name. They could be attached to or growing inside the moss balls.

TPWD said in a release, "they are very small, growing to no more than an inch in size, and the individuals found on the moss balls in Texas were less than a quarter of an inch long."

Which stores might be selling these moss balls?

Petco and PetSmart are two of the stores TPWD named in its release:

"Petco stores have been working diligently to remove these products from their shelves, and I have informed PetSmart of the presence of zebra mussels within this product," said Jarret Barker, TPWD assistant law enforcement commander. "We urge any other pet and aquarium or retail store selling these 'moss balls' to remove this product from shelves and discontinue future sale."

Don't dump your aquarium water!

Did you know you shouldn't simply dump your aquarium water? That's one of the ways that invasive species often end up in our lakes and waterways. TPWD urges aquarium owners to never dump their tank water. They have an online resource to show people how to dispose of their aquarium water safely.

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