Fish sex that is
But it made ya click right..
Recently a local news cast did an extra called "whats in the water". The story was talking about Mississippi river waters here in Minnesota. A snippet:
"You can't tell just by looking at them, but scientists have found male fish with "female characteristics."
In some extreme cases, scientists have found male fish carrying eggs inside their testes."
Full story here:
http://www.kare11.com/news/investiga...storyid=138149
I cannot imagine the water gets better further downstream.
Having recently begun the hobby of having a fish aquarium, learning about the things I do that can kill my fish, how to treat disease when a fish gets sick and all of the other things one needs to know to keep fish alive in a tank has broadened my knowledge of how sensitive fish are to changes and introductions of chemicals to their environment and how suseptable the whole tank system balance is to introduced chemicals, such as hand lotion, anti-bacterials, metals, etc.
And I have learned some about water chemistry. Watching Ammonia, NitrIte and NitrAte levels, Ph, Gh, Kh, copper (I have shrimp) levels had become a part of my morning rituals during the begining of the tank setup. For my particular tank, if I hit an Ammonia of 1 micrograms per liter, with my temps at 77-78 degrees, I could begin losing fish. Not to worry now though, my bacteria are functioning at their desired levels and the plants are recycling the NitrAtes.
Back in the 70s I remember them finding a link between nitrogen and blue baby syndrome. Nitrogen levels that are too high in drinking water cause the blood not to be able to absorb oxygen. They found at least several farm wells with levels so high it was impacting baby health when formulas and juices were made from these well waters. And as I understand it, nitrogen is linked to nitrItes and nitrAtes somehow (from my aquarium fish learnings).
Back to the story above. This link has some data from a previous study done and these levels reported are in micrograms per liter:
http://toxics.usgs.gov/pubs/FS-027-02/index.html
Steriods were found in 89% of the samples.
Insect repealent found in 74% of the samples.
Disinfectants found in 66% of the samples
Insecticides in 45% of the samples.
Detergent Metabiolates? in 69% of the samples
There is no way I can test for these things in my own water and I wonder about how much, if any, there is. Now I realize that the impact on the micro level I experience in my fish tank is not the same thing as the macro level of water mass and its movements that change the whole operation however, these numbers are based on the same simple method of micrograms per liter and it is the mg/L that I watch for to indicate time to take action in my fishtank.
While reading up on how to treat my fish for disease I discovered that the use of tetracycline makes many fish sterile. It is also amazing how many of these treatments can kill fish your trying to save. Common advice is to never treat a fish who isnt sick.
So are these contaminates an additional link to the bad fishing in Minnesota lakes that I have always linked to overfishing?
More fact sheets from other studies done:
http://toxics.usgs.gov/topics/reconn...e_studies.html
Another link for additional info:
http://toxics.usgs.gov/
A key thing present in most of these links I have read is, most of the water treatments used by municipalities do not remove these chemicals from the drinking waters or out of the waste waters put back into the environment. Or thats the way I am understanding it.
How many of you know what is in your drinking water?
