The Influence of pH, Water Hardness, and Alkalinity on the Acute Lethality of Zinc to Rainbow Trout (Salmo gairdneri)

Abstract

The acute lethality of dissolved zinc to rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) was significantly increased at higher pH and lower hardness levels. Changes in pH from 5.5 to 7.0 increased zinc toxicity by factors of 2 to 5, depending on total hardness levels. A decrease in hardness from 386 to 31 mg CaCO3/L increased zinc toxicity by more than an order of magnitude at both pH levels. These effects of pH and hardness were not caused by changes in the chemical speciation of zinc. An increase in carbonate alkalinity from 8.4 to 24 mg CaCO3/L at pH 7.0 did not significantly alter zinc toxicity at either hardness level. Thus, carbonate alkalinity is not an important factor at or below pH 7.0. At low hardness, dissolved zinc was more than 10 times as toxic at pH 9.0 as at pH 5.5. Two competing mechanisms appear to operate: as the pH rises, dissolved zinc becomes increasingly toxic, but at higher pH levels it is increasingly replaced by zinc precipitate, which is of very low toxicity to fish.