Water-soluble polymers (WSPs) represent a significant category of synthetic polymers widely applied across several industrial, medical, and consumer products. Despite their extensive production and usage, WSPs escape current regulations as either plastics or chemical contaminants, resulting in a lack of production estimation, monitoring, and circular economy action plans. Consequently, WSPs are freely released into aquatic ecosystems, raising concerns about potential hazards to organisms and human health. This study aims to evaluate the potential effects of one of the most abundant WSPs, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), comparing the standard powder, and commercial PVA-based powder dishwasher pods, on Danio rerio embryos exposed for 120 hpf (hours post-fertilization) to the estimated concentration (0.1 mg/L) for the civil wastewater of Milan-Nosedo.  Firstly, the potential presence of additives was evaluated using ¹H-NMR spectroscopy. Then, the effects across molecular, cellular, physiological, and organism levels were evaluated through a multi-tier approach. Specifically, we assessed proteomics and metabolomics analyses, genotoxicity (micronuclei formation, apoptosis, and necrosis), reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, as well as mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis. Additionally, heart rate was evaluated as a physiological endpoint, while behavioural parameters (e.g. distance moved, turn angle, and thigmotaxis) were used to assess swimming behaviour. ¹H-NMR results revealed minimal differences in the spectrum of powder pods compared to the standard PVA, indicating a low amount of additives. Our results revealed a significant increase (p<0.05) in the heart rate and AChE activity of embryos exposed to powder dishwasher pods compared to controls, contrary to those exposed to the PVA standard. This suggests that the possible negative effects on this biological model could be mostly attributed to additives present in commercial PVA-based products rather than PVA itself, aligning with our previous studies. Further investigations are underway to better understand the potential impact of additives in commercial PVA-based products on aquatic organisms.