Calcium chloride

Long-term toxicity to fish

Link to relevant study record(s)

Reference

Endpoint:

fish early-life stage toxicity

Type of information:

experimental study

Adequacy of study:

key study

Study period:

2017

Reliability:

2 (reliable with restrictions)

Rationale for reliability incl. deficiencies:

comparable to guideline study with acceptable restrictions

Remarks:

No analytical monitoring but exposure concentration are standardized for ionic Cl concentrations

Qualifier:

equivalent or similar to guideline

Guideline:

OECD Guideline 210 (Fish, Early-Life Stage Toxicity Test)

GLP compliance:

no

Remarks:

The publication does not mention that the study has been conducted under GLP conditions.

Specific details on test material used for the study:

SOURCE OF TEST MATERIAL
- Source and lot/batch No.of test material: SafeStep® Ice Melter (Overland Park, KS, USA) 7300

Analytical monitoring:

no

Details on sampling:

- Concentrations: exposure concentration are standardized for ionic Cl concentrations

Vehicle:

no

Details on test solutions:

PREPARATION AND APPLICATION OF TEST SOLUTION (especially for difficult test substances)
- Method: calculated the mass (to the nearest 0.001 g) of the test item needed to generate the nominal standardized concentrations by chloride (Cl) concentratio. Exposure concentration selected were based on enviromental concentrations. The elevated concentrations represent concentrations commonly observed in stream ecosystems during the alevin and fry phases for many salmonids and coincide with spring snowmelt. The concentrations of 230 and 860 mg Cl/L were also chosen because they represent the chronic and acute thresholds established for Cl by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for the protection of freshwater biota, respectively (USEPA, 1988).
- Controls: 25 mg Cl/ L served as the control because this was the base concentration of the carbon-filtered, UV-irradiated tap water (water hardness: 60 mg/L as CaCO)

Test organisms (species):

Oncorhynchus mykiss (previous name: Salmo gairdneri)

Details on test organisms:

TEST ORGANISM
- Common name: rainbow trout
- Source: rainbow trout eggs acquired from the Warrensburg County Fish Hatchery (Warrensburg, NY, USA)

METHOD FOR PREPARATION AND COLLECTION OF FERTILIZED EGGS
- Subsequent handling of eggs, embryos and larvae: Eggs began hatching 2 d prior to acquisition, so before starting experiment all eggs were allowed to hatch. After hatching, 10 alevin-stage rainbow trout were randomly assigned from the general population (2-d post hatch) to each of the 52 plastic tanks filled with 8 L of the carbon-filtered, UV-irradiated tap water and allowed to acclimate to the tanks for 24 h.

POST-HATCH FEEDING
- Start date: 13days after hatching
- Type/source, amount and frequency of feed: commercial diet (Melick Aquafeed©) ad libitum 3 times daily at first sign of emer- gence and exogenous feeding

Test type:

semi-static

Water media type:

freshwater

Limit test:

no

Total exposure duration:

25 d

Remarks on exposure duration:

from 2-d post hatch to 12 d after the onset of exogenous feeding

Post exposure observation period:

On day 25, fish were euthanized in MS-222 under protocol approved by Rensselaer's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Animals were blotted dry and preserved them in 70% ethanol and subsequently mass (to the nearest mg) and total length (to the nearest mm) of each fish was determined.

Hardness:

60 mg/L as CaCO3

Test temperature:

13 ± 2 C

pH:

no data

Dissolved oxygen:

> 8 mg O2/L

Salinity:

not applicable

Nominal and measured concentrations:

nominal concentrations: four environmentally relevant concentrations: 230, 860, 1500, 3000 mg Cl/L

Details on test conditions:

TEST SYSTEM
- Test vessel: plastic tank 52 plastic tanks filled with 8 L of the medium
- Type (delete if not applicable): open
- Aeration: no
- Renewal rate of test solution (frequency/flow rate): 4 L of water every 3 d from each tank with the stock solutions, or just the filtered tap water for the controls. Stock solution was oxygenated with a bubbler for 2 min before use.
- No. of fertilized eggs/embryos per vessel: 10 alevine-stage fish
- No. of vessels per concentration (replicates): 4
- No. of vessels per control (replicates): 4

TEST MEDIUM / WATER PARAMETERS
- Source/preparation of dilution water: carbon-filtered, UV-irradiated tap water
- Intervals of water quality measurement: seven timeevery 3-4 days for conductivity and troughout the experiment for temperature, dissolved oxygen

OTHER TEST CONDITIONS
- Photoperiod: 12/12d/n


EFFECT PARAMETERS MEASURED (with observation intervals if applicable) : mortalit, fish lenght and fish mass

POST-HATCH DETAILS
- Begin of post-hatch period: 1 day to 13 days of exposure
- No. of hatched eggs (alevins)/treatment released to the test chamber: waited that all hatched before starting experiment

Reference substance (positive control):

no

Key result

Duration:

25 d

Dose descriptor:

NOEC

Effect conc.:

230 mg/L

Nominal / measured:

nominal

Conc. based on:

test mat. (dissolved fraction)

Basis for effect:

length

Remarks on result:

other:

Remarks:

NOEC was extrapolated from the relative graph attached as illustration

Key result

Duration:

25 d

Dose descriptor:

NOEC

Effect conc.:

230 mg/L

Nominal / measured:

nominal

Conc. based on:

test mat. (dissolved fraction)

Basis for effect:

weight

Remarks on result:

other:

Remarks:

NOEC was extrapolated from the relative graph attached as illustration

Duration:

25 d

Dose descriptor:

LOEC

Effect conc.:

860 mg/L

Nominal / measured:

nominal

Conc. based on:

test mat. (dissolved fraction)

Basis for effect:

length

Remarks on result:

other:

Remarks:

LOEC was extrapolated from the relative graph attached as illustration

Duration:

25 d

Dose descriptor:

LOEC

Effect conc.:

860 mg/L

Nominal / measured:

nominal

Conc. based on:

test mat. (dissolved fraction)

Basis for effect:

weight

Remarks on result:

other:

Remarks:

LOEC was extrapolated from the relative graph attached as illustration

Details on results:

- Mortality/survival at embryo and larval stages: After spiking the tank with the respective treatment all alevins were alive with ecxeption of three fish which were then replaced
- Overall mortality/survival: Less than 1% of the rainbow trout died from unknown causes over the course of the experiment at concentrations >860 mg Cl/L. When death occurred, there was 1 death per tank, with the exception of one tank in which two deaths occurred at the concnetration of 3000 mg Cl/L
- Days to hatch and numbers hatched: 2 days for hatching. Experiment started when all eggs hatched.

Results with reference substance (positive control):

not applicable

Reported statistics and error estimates:

Statistical significance of the rm-ANOVAs was Bonferroni corrected and was evaluated at the a-level of 0.016 to reduce the probability of making a type I error. If a significant interaction (between time and concentration) or a main effect of concentration was discovered, abiotic conditions were examined within or among sampling dates using one- way ANOVA. We also used a Bonferroni correction to decrease the a-level to 0.002 to evaluate statistical significance of the one- way ANOVAs. If we found a significant main effect of concentration within a sampling date, we conducted a Tukey's post-hoc test to determine which concentrations differed in temperature or DO and whether the difference was biologically relevant to fish growth or emergence. All analyses were performed in R 3.1.2 (R Project for Statistical Computing). Residual, normal quantile- quantile, and scale-location plots were assessed to identify any violations of parametric assumptions and log-transformed data when necessary.

Validity criteria fulfilled:

not specified

Conclusions:

Exposure to the test item for 25d of the early life stage of rainbow trout. Results indicated a NOEC based on effect on lenght and weight of 230 mg/L and a LOEC of 860 mg/L.

Executive summary:

A study was performed exposing alevins of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, to the test item for 25 d, comprehensive of 2 weeks of exposure after starting exogenous feeding. Test was conducted according to the OECD 210 guideline. Analytical concentrations of the test item were not measured but initial nominal concentrations were calculated based on the Cl ionic concentration. Results indicated a NOEC of 230 mg/L and a LOEC of 860 mg/L based on effects on length and weight.

 

Description of key information

A study was performed exposing alevins of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, to the test item for 25 d, comprehensive of 2 weeks of exposure after starting exogenous feeding. Test was conducted according to the OECD 210 guideline. Analytical concentrations of the test item were not measured but initial nominal concentrations were calculated based on the Cl ionic concentration. Results indicated a NOEC of 230 mg/L and a LOEC of 860 mg/L based on effects on length and weight. 

Key value for chemical safety assessment

Fresh water fish

Fresh water fish

Effect concentration:

230 mg/L