Prevention and treatment of Nitrite toxicity in juvenile steelhead trout ( Salmo gairdneri )

Abstract

The efficacy of mineral salts, pH, and tetramethylthianine (methylene blue) treatment in reducing the acute toxicity of nitrite to fingerling steelhead trout ( Salmo gairdneri ) was determined using a static bioassay system at 10 °C. The acute toxicity (96-h LC50) was reduced by a factor of about 24 for 5-g steelhead and 13 for 10-g fish when the total water hardness was increased from 25 to 300 mg/L (as CaCO 3 ). NaCl or CaCl 2 additions (0–200 mg/L) reduced toxicity by a factor of up to 3 for NaCl and 50 for CaCl 2 . Increasing the pH from 6.0 to 8.0 decreased toxicity by a factor of about 8 for the smaller and 3 for the larger fish. Methylene blue at 0.1 or 1.0 mg/L was effective in decreasing acute toxicity. For alleviating methemoglobinemia, removing the fish to freshwater for 48 h was about as effective as 1.0 mg/L methylene blue. Chronic exposure in soft water to 0.03 mg/L NO 2 -N for 6 mo caused no significant growth reduction, gill histological changes, hematological dyscrasias, or impaired ability of the smolts to adapt to 30‰ seawater and grow for an additional 2 mo. Key words : nitrite, toxicity, fish, methylene blue, pH, salts, acute toxicity, chronic toxicity