Use of the Piscicide Antimycin to Restore

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Use of the Piscicide Antimycin to Restore Barrens
Topminnow Populations in Middle Tennessee Ponds
Doug Winford, Brad Bingham, Tim Merritt, Geoff
Carr Biologists US Fish Wildlife
Service Cookeville, Tennessee 38501
Steve Moore Matt Kulp Fishery Biologists Great
Smoky Mountains National Park 107 Park
Headquarters Road Gatlinburg, Tennessee 37738
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Why Antimycin?

• Antimycin (Fintrol) is an antibiotic originally
  produced for the veterinary industry
• Isolated from a common soil bacteria,
  Streptomyces (Leben and Keitt 1948)
• Fish do not detect it and it can be used in cold
  water (i.e. lt 15.5oC or 60oF)
• Its a Restricted Use pesticide It can only be
  purchased and used by trained professionals
  because the concentrate is dangerous to humans

• When degraded by water, sunlight, alkalinity
  (pHgt8.0), and tumbling, antimycin breaks down
  into antimycic acid (C11H14N2O5) and formic acid
  plus a non-acidic antimycin lactone fragment
  all of which are environmentally ubiquitous
• As it moves down stream, tumbling, hydrolysis
  and ionization continue to break the molecules
  apart and neutralize the chemical
• Experiences in Western parks had shown that a 61
  m (200 ft.) drop in elevation neutralized the
  antimycin
• Data from these projects indicated little if any
  impact to non-target organisms

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So how does it work?

• How does antimycin kill fish?
• Cellular Level
• Inhibits cellular respiration by blocking the
  transfer of electrons in the mitochondria
• Believed fish more sensitive than birds or
  mammals due to high absorption rates through
  gills
• Salmonids more susceptible than catfish due to
  higher respiration rates
• Respiratory Function
• Inhibits oxygen uptake through gills (?)

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Pre-Treatment Preparation
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Pre-Treatment Preparation
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Treatment Stream Application

• Dripped antimycin at a rate of 8 ppb
• 1 tablespoon in 326,000 gallons!

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Detoxification Potassium Permanganate (KMnO4)

• Neutralized antimycin with potassium permanganate
  (KMnO4) at a rate of 4 ppm

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Treatment Small Pond Application

• Individual pond volume (acre feet) simple
  surface area (?r2) times mean depth (ft)
• Applied at 123.0ml per acre-foot (1.0-2.6ml per
  pool) 10ppb
• Applied each morning using backpack sprayer and
  3-4 gallons of water
• Allowed to sit in pond overnight

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Toxicity Impacts to salmonids

• Usually, within 3-4 hours, fish start to show
  signs of impact
• start to turn pale along dorsal midline
• begin to lose fright response

• Within 4-8 hours, fish show major signs of
  impact
• loss fright response
• dark patches around eyes and cranium
• Ghost Fish swimming aimlessly

• Death typically occurs within 12-24 hours

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Toxicity Impacts to mosquitofish

• CUNNINGHAM
• Small mosquitofish (lt35mm) started to show
  signs of impact within 2 hours
• start to turn pale along dorsal midline
  (head--gttail)
• begin to lose fright response swim aimlessly
• remained moribund for prolonged period
• 85 mortality within 24 hours
• smallest fish (lt35mm) impacted first
• 100 mortality within 48 hours
• A few tadpoles impacted but 95 alive

• VERVILLA
• Suspended sediment made evaluation difficult
  (holding cages important)
• Impacts greatest in lower pool and slowest in
  upper pool
• attributed to spring inflow temperature
• 10-80 mosquitofish mortality in 24 hours
• 100 mortality of other species in lt24hrs
• green sunfish, flame chub, fantail darter
• golden shiner DOA after 48 hours
• 80-100 mortality in 48 hours
• 100 mortality in 72 hours

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Summary Mosquitofish Eradication Project

• PROJECT SUMMARY
• 10 ppb (240 exposures) of antimycin will kill
  all sizes of mosquitofish within 72 hours
• impacts to non-target amphibians and insects
  negligible (observations)
• low water levels improved treatment success by
• 1. Eliminated need for detoxification
• 2. Eliminated hiding cover and facilitated
  mixing
• definite need for barrier at Cunningham pond
• projects will serve as testing sites for
  mosquitofish invasion mechanism
• All sites ready for BTM when source stock is
  available

Hasta la vista, BABY!
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Antimycin Projects Completed and Planned

• Successfully Completed Projects
• Rocky Mountain NP Greenback Cutthroat
• Yellowstone NP Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout
• Crater Lake NP Bull Trout
• Great Basin NP Bonneville Cutthroat Trout
• Cherry Creek, MT Westslope Cutthroat Trout
• Great Smoky Mountains NP Brook Trout
• King Creek, Sumter NF, SC Brook Trout
• Vervilla Ponds, TN Barrens Topminnow

• Planned Projects
• Sumter National Forest Brook Trout
• Yellowstone NP Westslope Cutthroat Trout
• Great Basin NP Bonneville Cutthroat Trout
• Great Sand Dunes NP Rio Grande Cutthroat
• Great Smoky Mountains NP Brook Trout

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Many thanks to Doug Winford, Brad Bingham, Tim
Merritt and Geoff Call for their assistance on
the project.