Effects of Low Environmental pH on the Survival, Growth, and ionic Composition of Postemergent Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar)

Abstract

Postemergent Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) were reared during the early feeding phase in the soft, acidic water of the Westfield River (mean pH 5.0) in Nova Scotia. The fry were held in a flow-through system of tanks in situ and were fed a hatchery diet. Bioassays were also conducted in river water treated with limestone (mean pH 6.1) to provide a control. Cumulative mortality of fry after 30 d in the tanks was 70% at pH 5.0 and only 4% at pH 6.1. Fry in untreated river water were inactive, ingested little food, and lost weight (approximately 25%) during the first 15 d of exposure. Large increases in body [Ca2+] and [Na+] were observed in fry at both pH levels during that time, but the increase in [Ca2+] lagged and that in [Na+] was less in fry at low pH. Deaths occurred 15–30 d after swim-up and dead fry were all severely emaciated, indicating that deaths were probably from starvation. Although there were differences in ionic composition changes in fry held at pH 5.0 compared with control, no major depletion of body ionic reserves occurred relative to initial concentrations. Surviving fry at pH 5.0 developed a tolerance after 25 d and had growth rates, condition factors, and ionic concentrations similar to those of fry in treated water. The mortality of fry during the transition to exogenous feeding, in response to low pH stress in soft water, is probably responsible for reduced recruitment and the decline or loss of salmon stocks in this and other acidic rivers of Nova Scotia.