Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies

Good productivity of fish and aquatic life are dependent upon clear, clean water at favorable temperatures and with sufficient concentrations of needed dissolved gases and solids. The number of individuals and species of bottom animals or plankton present in streams and lakes are important criteria of water quality. Siltation is one of the most damaging and widespread pollutants; it causes reduction of light penetration, destruction of shelter, and smothering effects on eggs. For short periods fishes tolerate turbidities up to 100,000 parts per million, but under long-term exposure, concentrations of 100-200 ppm can be directly harmful. Fishes may tolerate dissolved solids up to 3,000 ppm or more if they are nontoxic earth metals and physiologically balanced. Bass and bluegill eggs and fry can survive in salt water up to about 10 percent sea strength. Temperatures of 93° to 96° F. represent the critical level for most species of warmwater fishes.

The toxicity of fifteen chemicals used in vegetation control or disease treatment was studied. The fry of largemouth black bass, Micropterus salmoides, bluegill, Lepomis macrochirus, and channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus were used as test animals. Chemicals included were three forms of silvex, three formulations of endothal, simazine, atrazine, diquat, two forms of benzenehexachloride, roccal, acriflavine, malachite green and methylene blue. Results of toxicity tests were used to arrive at a safe concentration of the various chemicals for the species of fry used as test animals. Several of the chemicals showed evidence of species specificity and one herbicide was sufficiently toxic to these species of fishes to warrant consideration as a fish toxicant.

A study involving macro-invertebrate populations, fish populations, and water quality determinations was conducted on Bicycle Path Creek and Parkerson Mill Creek, Lee County, Alabama, during a nine-month period in 1959. The streams, averaging 7.0 and 5.8 inches in depth and 10.0 and 12.8 feet in width, respectively, received domestic sewage from approximately half of the 16,000 inhabitants of Auburn, Alabama. Sewage was diverted from Bicycle Path Creek and pumped via a lift station to a sewage treatment plant located on Parkerson Mill Creek. The plant became operative about halfway through the study and the treated effluent was discharged into Parkerson Mill Creek.