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Venlafaxine is an antidepressant and anti-anxiety drug that has been detected in municipal wastewater at low micrograms per litre (ug/L) concentrations. In this study, the nest-defense behavior of adult male fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) was observed in fish exposed for a full lifecycle to venlafaxine nominal concentrations. Nest-defense behaviors quantified were the time taken to contact a dummy intruder fish (on a flexible stick, held near each nest) and the number of contacts made during a 1 minute period. This study is the first to assess reproductive behaviors in fish exposed to an antidepressant over a full lifecycle.

Propranolol is a human pharmaceutical b-blocker that has been detected in municipal wastewater effluents in low concentrations. To assess the potential of this compound to affect fish, Fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) were exposed for a life cycle in a flow-through system to nominal propranolol concentrations. During the 162-day to 165-day exposure, no significant changes in weights or lengths were seen in Fathead minnows, although the highest concentration of propranolol did cause a 15% decrease in survival of larval and juvenile stage fish compared with controls. At maturity, there were no significant changes in condition factor, liver-somatic index, or secondary sex characteristics in propranolol-exposed male or female fish.

Fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) embryos and larvae are frequently used in toxicology, including short-term embryo-only tests which often use small volumes of test solution. The effect that such conditions may have on Fathead minnow development has yet to be explicitly described. Here we compared rates of embryonic development in Fathead minnow embryos reared under standard light and temperature conditions with a range of possible methods. All methods yielded excellent control survival.

Substituted phenylamine antioxidants (SPAs) are used in the production of a variety of consumer products (lubricants, dyes, and polymers). Substituted phenylamine antioxidants (SPAs) increase the life of consumer products by preventing the chain reaction of free radical production initiated by exposure to heat, oxygen, ozone, radiation and stress. It is important to consider that based on their physicochemical properties, substituted phenylamine antioxidants (SPAs) are likely to partition into sediment when they enter an aquatic system. Thus the most likely environmentally relevant pathway for fish to become exposed to SPAs would be through contaminated sediment.

Dataset contains laboratory-studied Fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) survival when exposed to bitumen sediments from the oil sands region of northern Alberta, cut through the McMurray Formation (MF). These are the results of the toxicological exposures, when Fathead minnow embryos were exposed to water from simulated rainfall on the river sediments.

Synthetic dyes are extensively used in many industrial and consumer products, including paper productions, leather tanning, food colouring, personal care products (examples being; hair colour, deodorant etc.). Synthetic dyes are also used in textile paints. No method has been able to completely remove these pollutants from wastewater and 10-15% of the dyes eventually enter aquatic ecosystem. In Canada as part of the Government of Canada's Chemicals Management Plan (CMP), substances that are used in industries or imported in as products are being assessed for potential human and environmental toxicity.

Oil Sands Sediment Exposures of Embryo-larval Fathead Minnows

Dataset contains laboratory-studied fathead minnow egg and larval survival rates when exposed to sediments collected from 18 sites in the Athabasca watershed (2010-2014). A controlled laboratory study examined the impacts on fathead minnow eggs and larval development when exposed to collected sediments at concentrations of 1, 5 and/or 25 g/L. Sediments and water were renewed daily, and eggs were assessed as they hatched (in about 5 days), and as the larval fish grew to 8-9 days post hatch (dph), and 15-16 dph. The data in the file present the mean survival (and standard deviation).

To assess the toxicity of winter-time atmospheric deposition in the oil sands mining area of Northern Alberta, embryo-larval fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) were exposed to snowmelt samples. Snow was collected in 2011–2014 near (< 7 km) oil sands open pit mining operations in the Athabasca River watershed and at sites far from (> 25 km) oil sands mining. Snow was shipped frozen back to the laboratory, melted, and amended with essential ions prior to testing. Fertilized fathead minnow eggs were exposed (< 24 h post-fertilization to 7–16 days post-hatch) to a range of 25%–100% snowmelt.

This dataset contains the growth and survival data for Fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) exposed to sediment from twelve sites within the Hamilton Harbour Area of Concern, as well as reference sediment (a mixture of sediment from two reference sites within Lake Erie, Long Point Marsh and Long Point Bay). The embryo-larval Fathead minnow exposure occurred over a three week period. Exposure was done from the egg stage (which lasted 5 days) to 9 and 16 days post hatch. Supplemental Information

Funding for this study was provided in part by the Government of Canada’s Great Lakes Action Plan (GLAP) and in support of Hamilton Harbour Area of Concern.

Substituted diphenylamine antioxidants (SDPAs) and benzotriazole UV stabilizers (BZT-UVs) are additives used in industrial and consumer products to prevent degradation or colour change of materials, but their environmental fate and disposition are not well characterized. In this study, SDPAs and BZT-UVs were analyzed in liquid and solid samples collected from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Canada to investigate the occurrence and fate of these contaminants. SDPAs and BZT-UVs were effectively removed from the liquid stream in most WWTPs mainly through sludge sorption and separation, but biotransformation, UV treatment and filtration may also contribute to removal of some contaminants in advanced treatment plants. In contrast, the removal efficiency of target contaminants using chemically assisted primary treatment was low, likely due to the short hydraulic retention time of this site.