Sporadic mortality in chronic toxicity tests using <i>Pimephales promelas</i> (rafinesque): Cases of characterization and control

The ability of whole effluent toxicity (WET) tests to predict in-stream effects to periphyton, benthic macroinvertebrates, and fish in a habitat-impaired stream was assessed. Habitat assessment data were useful in interpreting in-stream conditions for periphyton and benthic macroinvertebrates. Various periphyton and macroinvertebrate metrics identified siltation effects as opposed to water quality effects in-stream. Pathogen effects noted in fathead minnow WET tests were not reflected in the fish community. Overall, in-stream biological conditions confirmed the absence of water quality-related effects as predicted by WET tests.

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Assessing the Relationship Between Laboratory Whole Effluent Toxicity Test Data and In-Stream Biological Communities

Hall

Beeson

Kinsey³

et al. 2008

Bull Environ Contam Toxicol

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Use of Daphnia spp. for the Ecotoxicological Assessment of Water Quality in an Agricultural Watershed in South-Central Chile

Cooman

Debels

Gajardo

et al. 2005

Arch Environ Contam Toxicol

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Because of the importance of surface waters from the Chillán River watershed (Chile) for recreation, agricultural irrigation, and the production of drinking water, local concern about river water quality has increased considerably during the last decade. Agricultural and forestry activities in the watershed, characterized by an intensive use of pesticides, are thought to play an important role in the generation of non-point-source pollution, whereas the discharge of urban wastewater from the city of Chillán constitutes a major point source of pollution. In the present investigation, acute and chronic laboratory bioassays using Daphnia spp. were conducted on surface water samples from 17 river stations located throughout the watershed. Sampling occurred on 6 occasions during a 16-month period (2000 to 2001) and included both high and low flow conditions. Almost all toxic effects observed in summer were directly related to the discharge of urban wastewater, whereas toxicity in rural areas was mainly detected during the winter period when rainfall and river flow are high. Toxicity test results were compared with measured physicochemical water-quality data. Mortality and alterations in reproductive success of Daphnia spp. were not consistently reflected in detected chemical pollution. With only one exception (atrazine), detected pesticide concentrations were below known toxicity levels. However, additive and synergistic effects of the presence of a mixture of pesticides could not be excluded as a possible cause of observed toxicity. At several stations, filtering of the water sample led to a strong decrease in toxicity, which suggests the presence of xenobiotics attached to the smaller sediment fraction. Inclusion of sediment chemical analysis and sediment toxicity testing in future work should therefore be encouraged. The presented approach provided information about the adverse effects of human activities on surface water quality in the watershed, not easily obtained from classical monitoring schemes. In specific cases, the approach may represent an economically attractive alternative to physicochemical analyses. Modifications to the proposed methodology should be introduced if the effects of intrastorm and interstorm variability of water quality are to be analyzed.

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Modifications to the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) chronic test method to remove mortality due to pathogenic organisms

Geis¹,

Fleming

Mager³

et al. 2003

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Whole effluent toxicity testing is used to evaluate the discharge of materials that may be harmful to indigenous aquatic life. Unlike most environmental analyses, receiving water (the water body into which the effluent is discharged) often is used as dilution water in whole effluent toxicity tests to simulate the aquatic environment into which the effluent is introduced. In approximately 26% of whole effluent toxicity tests conducted by Wisconsin (USA) certified labs between 1988 and 1998, a pathogenic effect caused failure of the receiving water controls during the fathead minnow chronic test (i.e., > 20% mortality). We performed microbiological work to isolate pathogenic organisms from receiving waters, the fish, and their food. We found pathogenic organisms such as Flexibacter columnaris, Aeromonas hydrophila, and Flavobacter spp. to be ubiquitous and were not able to remove them from the test (e.g., through decontamination of the fish food and carefully following sterility procedures). To eliminate the pathogenic effect, we evaluated manipulations of the sample and the test method including filtering receiving water, irradiating receiving water, using older fish (48 h), using clean test beakers each day of the test, and using smaller test beakers (30 ml) with two fish per beaker. In samples demonstrating the pathogenic effect, most of these manipulations significantly reduced mortality. The use of smaller tests cups was significantly better at reducing the effect than all of the other sample and method manipulations. These results indicate that a simple method modification to the fathead minnow chronic test will improve test reliability when diluting effluents with receiving waters.

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Sporadic mortality in chronic toxicity tests using Pimephales promelas (rafinesque): Cases of characterization and control

Cited by 3 publications

References 5 publications

Assessing the Relationship Between Laboratory Whole Effluent Toxicity Test Data and In-Stream Biological Communities

Assessing the Relationship Between Laboratory Whole Effluent Toxicity Test Data and In-Stream Biological Communities

Use of Daphnia spp. for the Ecotoxicological Assessment of Water Quality in an Agricultural Watershed in South-Central Chile

Modifications to the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) chronic test method to remove mortality due to pathogenic organisms

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