Acute and chronic un-ionized ammonia toxicity to ‘all-fish’ growth hormone transgenic common carp (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cyprinus carpio</Emphasis> L.)

Ammonia is toxic to fish in natural and artificial waters. We evaluated the acute (96 h) and chronic (21 d) toxicity of un-ionized ammonia to GH transgenic common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) and non-transgenic common carp using a static-renewal bioassay. The 24, 48, 72 and 96 h median lethal concentrations (LC₅₀) of un-ionized ammonia were slightly lower in transgenic carp (2.64, 2.44, 2.28 and 2.16 mg N/L, respectively) than in non-transgenic carp (2.70, 2.64, 2.52 and 2.33 mg N/L, respectively). Similarly, the median lethal time (LT₅₀) was significantly shorter for transgenic carp (1.41, 7.91 and 117.42 h) than for non-transgenic common carp (2.53, 14.06 and 150.44 h) following exposure to 3.86, 3.29, or 2.09 mg N/L, respectively. Moreover, the mortality of transgenic carp was significantly higher than that of non-transgenic carp at all un-ionized ammonia concentrations ((0.91 ± 0.12), (0.48 ± 0.06) and (0.12 ± 0.01) mg N/L) during the 21 d chronic toxicity test. Our results suggest that GH transgenic carp are less tolerant of un-ionized ammonia than non-transgenic carp. Our data are useful for evaluating potential environmental risk, optimizing stocking density in intensive aquaculture and establishing water quality criteria for ammonia in aquaculture.