Algae Toxin Field Test

Name: Algae Toxin Field Test
Brand: Lake Pulse
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Screen for algal toxins at the shoreline in about twenty minutes.

$24.99

Checkout arrives with the store connection. Orders attach to the lake on your account.

Product category

Physical ProductShips to you
ConsumableLab testing
ServiceBy the Lake Pulse Boathouse
CombinationKit with multiple items

In stock
Ships in 1–2 business days
Shipping
Flat-rate to your front door. Shipping details

Overview

A single-use field screen for microcystins and nodularins, the liver toxins most often produced by blue-green algae (cyanobacteria). Collect a sample at the shoreline, run the test, and read the cassette on site in about twenty minutes.

A bloom tells you algae are present. It does not tell you whether toxin is. This test answers that question where the water is used, so a lake community can decide whether to post a caution at a beach or boat launch today rather than after a lab report comes back.

It is a screen, not a certified result. A positive should be confirmed by laboratory analysis before it drives a formal advisory.

Turnaround

Results on site, about twenty minutes from sample to reading.

What problem does this solve for our lake?

Blue-green algae blooms look alike whether they are producing toxin or not, and lab results take days. In the meantime, decisions about swimmers, dogs, and boat launches get made on appearance alone. This test gives your lake community a same-day, on-site answer to the one question that matters during a bloom: is toxin present in the water people are using right now.

What's included?

One Detekt Blue-Green Algae Toxin Test, single use
Sample collection container, test cassette, and step-by-step instructions
Everything needed to run one test; no additional equipment required

What's not included

A concentration value. The result is present or not detected, not a number.
Other cyanotoxins. It does not screen for anatoxin-a, cylindrospermopsin, or saxitoxin.
A certified laboratory result. It cannot be used for regulatory reporting or drinking water compliance.
Drinking water testing. It is intended for recreational surface water only.
Boathouse interpretation or follow-up, which is available separately.

Requirements

A freshwater sample collected at the spot in question, tested promptly after collection
A flat, shaded surface and even light to read the cassette
About twenty minutes on site
Not sure where or when to sample? Contact the Boathouse before you test.

What you get back

Results

A qualitative result: toxin detected at or above the test's screening threshold, or not detected. The screening threshold sits below the EPA's 8 ppb recreational advisory level for microcystins. Read the cassette against the included instructions. On a positive, keep people and pets out of the water at that location, notify your state lake or health program, and confirm with a lab microcystin test from the Toolbox.

Pro tips

Sample where people and pets enter the water, not the middle of the lake. Toxin concentrates along downwind shorelines.
Read in even, indirect light. Test lines can be faint; photograph the cassette so you have a record.
A negative is a snapshot. Blooms move with the wind and toxin levels change within a day, so retest when conditions change.
Treat a positive as a trigger, not a verdict. Act on it at the shoreline, then confirm it in the lab.
Pair it with a Secchi disk. A falling clarity reading is the early warning that tells you when to test.

We will never say we handle the science for you. A method you can see is one you can check, repeat, and defend. Lake Pulse sells measurement, not treatment — what you buy here positions you to solve the problem, and to prove whether it worked.

Results sync to the Portal for Plus, Lake Admin, and PRO subscribers

Results from this product land in your lake's shared record in the Portal — next to everything else your lake has ever measured, instead of in an inbox.

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