Lithium chloride : A flow-through embryo-larval toxicity test with the fathead minnow, pimephales promelas rafinesque

Lithium salts discharged with industrial effluent wastewater is slightly toxic to aquatic organisms. Pimephales promelas (fathead minnow), exposed to lithium chloride during early life-stages, gave LC50 and EC50 values of 8.7 and 6.4 mg per litre, respectively. Sublethal effects occurred at all concentrations greater than 5.4 mg lithium chloride per litre. A minimal difference was observed in numbers of larvae which survived to the end of the test (22-23 d post hatch) and those that were normal at the end of the test, suggesting that minnows were either lethally affected or not affected at all after crossing an exposure time threshold. The LOEC for length was 1.9 mg per litre and the NOEC for lithium chloride was 1.2 mg per litre. Based on these results the most sensitive end point was length of organism.