Toxicity of amoxicillin and erythromycin to fish and mosquito

Abstract

This study characterized the toxicity of Amoxicillin (AM), Erythromycin (ER) and Endosulfan (EN) to fish and mosquito larvae obtained from a certified fish farm and from Wadi Gaza. The acute toxicity tests were determined by calculating mortality percentage of fish and mosquitoes through a gradient concentration of the tested compounds. Mortality percentage, exposure time, LC50 and LT50 were taken as indicators of toxicity. The results showed that AM was the potent compound against fish with LC50 value lower that EN. Toxicity to fish is in the following order: AM> EN> ER whereas the toxicity to mosquitoes is in the following order: ER> EN> AM. Fish are more sensitive to AM than mosquitoes whereas mosquitoes are more sensitive to ER than fish. The interesting outcome of the study is the calculated LC50 values are far below the concentration found in different water systems. Mixture toxicity of the tested antibiotics indicates antagonistic effect on both fish and mosquitoes.