SEDL / STP / STP528-EB / STP34714S

The ABC's of Pollutant Bioassay Using Fish

Sprague, JB
Associate professor, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario

Pages: 25    Published: Jan 1973

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Abstract

This is a recommended method for tests of acute toxicity of pollutants to fish. Improved procedures are recommended: chiefly, more frequent observations of mortality and simple statistical treatment. The four-day lethal concentration or the lethal threshold concentration should be used as the final expression of the test result. Toxicity curves should be constructed as the experiment progresses, for the information of the investigator. Tests should provide at least two liters, and preferably three liters of test water per gram of fish per day, whether the test is static or continuous-flow. Tests should not be aerated. Standard species such as rainbow trout are recommended.

Effects of mixtures should be assessed by adding toxicant concentrations which have been expressed as fractions of the lethal concentration. Some suggestions are made for using the standard bioassay technique in experiments on sublethal and chronic effects.