LAUSR

Abstract Recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) is being applied in many aquaculture industries as it provides an opportunity to produce fish in a contained system with minimal use of water. In proposed RAS-based farming of the American eel, 17β-estradiol (E2) is being investigated as an in-feed drug to feminize and increase growth of farmed eels. This creates potential for release of E2 and its metabolites from the eel RAS and information is needed to monitor and manage eel farm effluents to reduce impact on the environment. In the current study, the concentrations of E2 and its metabolites (i.e., estrone (E1) and estriol (E3)) were monitored from different compartments in the RAS and analyzed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). E2 levels ranged from 8 to 25 ng/L in the water recirculating within the RAS and declined to 2–6 ng/L in the weeks post-treatment. E1 levels were within similar ranges as E2, whereas E3 levels were below 2 ng/L throughout the study. The results were used to develop a computational model to describe the fate of E2 and its metabolites in the RAS, and to delineate the influences of metabolism and hydrodynamics for the removal of E2 by RAS processes. The rapid removal of uneaten feed and feces downstream of inventory tanks was found to be the most significant mechanism for the removal of 2–6% of the E2 added in feed daily, producing a concentrated effluent stream suitable for strategic treatment strategies. Greater than 94% of E2 added to the system with feed was either metabolized by the eels and/or bacteria in the biofilters of the RAS or was sufficiently bound to solids fractions in the solid samples to resist organic extraction and detection. Additionally, reducing daily water exchange from 23 to 7% of the system water inventory resulted in an increase of only 1 ng/L in E1 concentrations within the RAS system while a negligible change in the concentration of E2 was observed.