4. Results and discussions
The experimental results showed that sodium cyanide was highly toxic to O. niloticus. The lethal concentration (96 h LC50) of sodium cyanide for fish was 0.387 mg/l. While at sub-lethal concentrations, the fish survived without any sign of fish mortality during the exposure periods.
Within the aquaria, the experimental results showed that when fish was subjected to 1/3 LC50 of cyanide (0.129 mg/l) for a period of 28 days, the fish revealed different mode of behaviors. During the first 14 days, fish exhibited disrupted schooling behavior, appeared sluggish in their movement and swim independently in erratic mode near the bottom at the corners of the aquarium. Also the present study showed that the cyanide induced excessive mucus secretion on the gill filaments and the skin of fish. As the result of the excessive mucus secretion on the gill filaments, the movement of the operculum increased to enlarge and lead to increase the breathing rate. It seems that the excessive mucus secretion that covering the whole gill filaments and skin of the fish may act as defensive mechanism and barrier that prevent the diffusion of the cyanide from water to fish body. Similarly, Prashanth et al. (2011), Prashanth and Patil (2006) and Thorat (2001) mentioned that the secretion of mucus over the gills may be an adaptive response to provide additional protection against corrosive nature of toxicant and its absorption by the general body surface; however it may inhibit the diffusion of oxygen during the process of gaseous exchange. Also, the increase in opercula movement and corresponding increase in frequency of surfacing of fish clearly indicates that fish adaptively shifts towards aerial respiration to escape the toxic aquatic medium and ovoid cyanide contaminated media. Such unusual behavior was detected among Labeo rohita fish due to obstructed functions of neurotransmitters.
On the other hand, the present results showed that when the fish was subjected to the same concentration for a longer period of time (21–28 days), fish recovered and swim normally such as the control fish. Such behavior is strongly related to the acceleration of compensatory mechanism that may occur in the activity of some enzymatic pathways to counteract the deleterious action of cyanide as possible by increasing the enzymatic detoxification rate of cyanide. Similarly, Brian et al. (2010) mentioned that the cyanide detoxification processes of fish seem to be very similar to those existing in mammals. The detoxification is probably achieved through the action of the enzyme rhodanese, which, in the presence of the thiosulfate, transforms cyanide into nontoxic thiocyanate.