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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stuttgart, Arkansas » Harry K. Dupree Stuttgart National Aquaculture Research Cntr » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #408397
Research Project: Enhancing the Production of Hybrid Striped Bass Through Improved Genetics, Nutrition, Production Management, and Fish Health

Location: Harry K. Dupree Stuttgart National Aquaculture Research Cntr

Title: Repeated copper sulfate treatments have no effect on growth and survival of juvenile Walleye

Author
item Farmer, Bradley
item Straus, David - Dave
item JOHNSON, J. ALAN - Iowa Department Of Natural Resources
item Ledbetter, Cynthia - Cindy
item Deshotel, Michael

Submitted to: North American Journal of Aquaculture
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/14/2023
Publication Date: 3/13/2024
Citation: Farmer, B.D., Straus, D.L., Johnson, J., Ledbetter, C.K., Deshotel, M.B. 2024. Repeated copper sulfate treatments have no effect on growth and survival of juvenile Walleye. North American Journal of Aquaculture. 86:250-254. https://doi.org/10.1002/naaq.10333.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/naaq.10333

Interpretive Summary: An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of repeated copper sulfate exposure on the growth and survival of juvenile walleye. Fish were exposed to CuSO4 every day for five consecutive days then not exposed for 14 days then again exposed daily for 5 consecutive days. The resulting survival data indicated that fish exposed to CuSO4 had higher survival compared to fish not exposed, albeit not statistically significant. There was also no difference in weight with exposed fish final weight of compared to unexposed fish. Both groups had similar weight increases and neither differed in length. No differences were observed in food conversion rate (FCR).

Technical Abstract: An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of repeated copper sulfate exposure on the growth and survival of juvenile walleye. Fish were exposed to 0 or 0.74mg/L CuSO4 every day for five consecutive days then not exposed for 14 days then again exposed daily for 5 consecutive days. The resulting survival data indicated that fish exposed to CuSO4 had higher survival compared to fish not exposed, albeit not statistically significant (96% compared to 85% survival respectively). There was also no difference in weight with exposed fish final weight of 25.3 g compared to 25.2 g for unexposed fish. Both groups had weight increases of over 400% during the study duration. Neither group differed in length starting at 9.2 cm and with exposed fish reaching a mean length of 14.6 and unexposed mean length of 14.5 cm. No differences were observed in food conversion rate (FCR).