Dechlorinators do not remove ammonia, they convert it to a less toxic form which can still be converted by bacteria into nitrite.

Could you give us the size of your pond? That would go a long way to help you :)

Its about 7 x 8 x average of 30 inches (12-40" at the deepest) Somewhere between 700-800 gallons.

Waterbug, aha - so the cycle is helped by it, not interrupted. But ... where would the ammonia come from? I'm still trying to figure out why water straight from the tap tests positive for ammonia AFTER adding the dechlorinator (tests negative before adding it.)

A rep from Prime says only way that could happen is if our tap water has chloramine in it - the Prime releases or unbinds the ammonia (or whatever the exact chemistry term is). However - our city water dept. DENIES there is chloramine added! It's a mystery.

I don't know what level of ammonia you are seeing so I really can't guess at the source. Would also need to know what test you're using. There are several ways to test ammonia.

If your water supplier says they use chlorine and not chloramine I would trust that info, assuming you contacted the correct supplier. They don't have any reason to hide it. Can you provide a link to your water company's web site?

Hi
There is an old saw in the fish hobby that if you change less than 10 percent of the water you don't need de chlors. Have found this to be true in both tanks and ponds. So in your case that would be around 70 gallons??
I use a rainwater purge system as my only filtration alond with tap additions . have never had a fatality EXCEPT when I let the tap run for over 24 hours . Don't do that
Can't imagine a city water NOT using chloramines maybe even ammonia . Chlorine is used because of it's sterilizing properties,relatively cheap and is very safe.
But it's highly volitile leaves solution rapidly Chloromine as well as ammonia help extend the effective
length of time . i only have one small aquarium on tap water but there I rely on 48 hours to remove the chlorine.
Though i sometimes use a dechlor ,it's so cheap in small qantitties . Why not?? lol gary

Ive been using all kinds of tests with varying degrees of frustration - my favorites (sarcasm) are the yellow tabs or the yellow dots. Invariably these gave me gave me a green border around a center of yellow - how the heck do you read THAT? Either go by the yellow (no ammonia) or the dark green (total ammonia, fish are all dead). Or presumably it's really something in between........?

Finally got the complete liquid chemistry set and the colors match up much better to the cards.

Has anyone out there used the filters you screw onto your hose? How do these work - is it still a chemical neutralizer that ADDS chemical to the water, or does it actually filter OUT or REMOVE the chlorine/chloramine? If the latter that would be great since apparently dechlorinator breaks down the chloramine and you end up with more ammonia in your system than you might have otherwise. Even if it cycles into nitrite/nitrate, it is still adding to the load, no?

I got one those filter cartridges but havent used it - it has a funny smell and the water I got out of it tasted funny.

DOES ANYONE KNOW what is in dechlorinator - what is the chemical composition.

I have been experiencing a major allergic outbreak like Ive never had before- hives all over. trying to figure out what I could have come in contact with and I keep thinking that my wading into the pond every other day to pull out the filter for cleaning might have something to do with it as Ive noticed some irritaiton in the past. Ive never heard of dechlorinator being toxic, and yet the stuff says on the label for "ornamental" fish only, not fish for human consumption - so what's up with that

Anyone tried the hose chlorine filter attachment?

Chemically, what is in a Dechlorinator?

I checked this out and it reads as if it were reliable.