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INTERACTIONS BETWEEN BACILLUS THURINGIENSIS SUBSP. ISRAELENSIS AND FATHEAD MINNOWS, PIMEPHALES PROMELAS RAFINESQUE, UNDER LABORATORY CONDITIONS
Citation:
Snarski, V. INTERACTIONS BETWEEN BACILLUS THURINGIENSIS SUBSP. ISRAELENSIS AND FATHEAD MINNOWS, PIMEPHALES PROMELAS RAFINESQUE, UNDER LABORATORY CONDITIONS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-90/253 (NTIS PB91144923).
Description:
Interactions between Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis and fathead minnows, Pimephales promelas, were studied in laboratory exposures to two commercial formulations, Vectobac-G and Mosquito Attack. ortality among fatheads exposed to 2.0 x 10 6 to 6.5 x 10 6 CFU/ml with both formulations was attributed to severe dissolved oxygen depletion due to formulation ingredients rather than to direct toxicity from the parasporal crystal. o adverse effects were observed at 6.4 x 10 5 CFU/ml and below. athead minnows rapidly accumulated high numbers of spores with 1 h of exposure to 2.2 x 10 5 CFU of Mosquito Attack per ml, producing whole-body counts of 4.0 x 10 6 CFU per fish. omparison of counts on gastrointestinal tract samples and whole-body samples and high numbers of spores in feces indicated that ingestion was the major route of exposure. B. thuringiensis subsp. israelensis spore counts decreased rapidly after transfer of fish to clean water, with a drop of over 3 orders of magnitude in 1 day. pores were rarely detected in fish after 8 days but were detectable in feces for over 2 weeks. hese findings suggest that fish could influence the dissemination of B. thuringiensis subsp. israelensis, and possibly other microbial agents, in the aquatic environment.