Water Quality in Relation to Survival of Brook Trout, Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchill)

Abstract

Abstract Periodic water analyses and simultaneous observations on the survival of various groups of test fish made in Honnedaga Lake during 1960 and 1961 indicated a relationship between water quality and trout survival. Periods of high acidity and heavy metals content, during the summer, were coincident with heavy mortality of brook trout from a hard-water and a soft-water hatchery; trout from a second hard-water hatchery, which contained zinc in its water supply, survived transfer to Honnedaga Lake. Chemical analyses of 30 nearby Adirondack lakes revealed two lakes of lower salinity, two of higher acidity, and one with a heavy metals content equal to that of Honnedaga. No other lakes exhibited the combined features of very low salinity, high acidity, and relatively high heavy metals content.