Acute Toxicity of Sodium Chloride, Pentachlorophenol, Guthion®, and Hexavalent Chromium to Fathead Minnows (Pimephales promelas) and Goldfish (Carassius auratus)

Abstract

The 96-h LC50’s for sodium chloride were 7650 and 7341 mg/liter, for pentachlorophenol 0.21 and 0.22 mg/liter, for Guthion® 1.9 and 2.4 mg/liter, and for hexavalent chromium 48 and 120 mg/liter, for fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) and goldfish (Carassius auratus), respectively. Threshold LC50’s were reached in 6 days for sodium chloride (7650 and 7322 mg/liter for fathead minnows and goldfish, respectively), and pentachlorophenol (0.21 and 0.21 mg/liter), but were not attained in 11 days (termination of testing) with Guthion® (0.76 and 0.80 mg/liter) and hexavalent chromium (18 and 33 mg/liter). With pentachlorophenol and Guthion® goldfish were initially more resistant, but by termination there was no significant difference in LC50’s between the two species. With hexavalent chromium the goldfish were more resistant throughout the 11-day test, and with sodium chloride goldfish were initially more resistant but at attainment of a threshold LC50 were less resistant. Use of toxicity curves for assessment of acute mortality permits interpretation not possible in 96-h tests where LC50’s are computed at 24-h intervals.