Evaluation of the effect of reactive sulfide on the acute toxicity of silver (I) to <i>Daphnia magna</i>. Part 1: Description of the chemical system

AbstractExperiments were designed to assess the potential protective effect of the presence of sulfide against the acute (48‐h) toxicity of silver(I) to Daphnia magna. Tests were conducted in borosilicate glass beakers (250 ml) in moderately hard synthetic water. Toxicity solutions were replaced after 24 h by static renewal method. This paper describes the chemical system, and the acute toxicity results are presented in a companion paper. Sulfide was below detection limit (<5 nM) in controls with no sulfide added. Sulfide, added as zinc sulfide clusters at approximately 35‐ or approximately 350‐nM concentration, dropped in concentration to approximately 25 and 250 nM, respectively, over the 24‐h period of measurements. Silver also decreased in concentration during the experiment (up to 59%), and the rate of loss was greater in the absence of sulfide compared with the presence of sulfide. A filtration experiment indicated a 1:1 binding ratio of silver to sulfide and a conditional stability constant for the Ag(I)‐zinc sulfide complex of log K' = 8.9. The losses of sulfide and silver during the experiments highlighted the need for regular monitoring of the important chemical components of the system, even during short (48‐h) toxicity tests.

Evaluation of the effect of reactive sulfide on the acute toxicity of silver (I) to Daphnia magna. Part 1: Description of the chemical system Journal Articles