Toxicity of Cadmium to Goldfish, Carassius auratus, in Hard and Soft Water

Abstract

Variations in cadmium form and concentration and in selected water quality parameters (pH, dissolved oxygen, total hardness, total alkalinity, conductivity) were monitored during static bioassays conducted with relatively soft (~ 20 mg/L as CaCO3) and hard (~ 140 mg/L as CaCO3) waters. Cadmium concentrations were reasonably stable in soft water, and with the exception of total hardness, water quality was not greatly altered during assay. Cumulative mortality curves were of a simple sigmoidal type and readily analyzed by conventional procedures. LC50 values of 2.76, 2.13, and 1.78 mg Cd/L were estimated on the basis of 48-, 96-, and 240-h periods of observation. During hard-water trials there were transient increases in the amount of particulate cadmium present and sharp decreases in total cadmium levels. Several parameters (pH, total alkalinity, conductivity) exhibited transient and/or sustained variations of a cadmium concentration-dependent type. Mortality curves were typically biphasic. The extent of first-phase mortality was significantly correlated with the magnitude of the initial pH decline and the amount of cadmium present in centrifugable form. Conventional procedures did not result in rectification of 240-h cumulative mortality curves, and the 240-h LC50 value (40.2 mg Cd/L) is considered to be inherently less precise than those obtained on the basis of 48- and 96-h periods of observation (46.9, 46.8 mg Cd/L). Key words: goldfish, Carassius auratus, cadmium toxicity, hard water, soft water, mortality