Bruce,

If your water is not treated with chloramines, then massive water changes
will dilute the level significantly. Water treated with chloramines has
ammonia in it, so it becomes very hard to reduce the ammonia level with
water changes. If you can reduce pH to about 7.4, the ammonia becomes
non-toxic, but if your pond is like mine with a pH of around 8, it means
killing the carbonate hardness and the filter bacteria will suffer. In my
pond, it took about 3 or 4 days for the ammonia to be consumed by the
bacteria in the pond, but the nitrite spike took longer to get through.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"Bruce" wrote in message
...


I got your post after a 35% water change and found my ammonia test
kit I never used and the test came out to 3.0," fatal for sensitive
species. Breakdown of nitrification."
Are there any home remedies(chemicals) to fix this besides amquel as we
are far
from ANY pet type shop?
Can, should I do another water change?
Thanks for your help!
Bruce

Please run the ammonia and nitrite tests. I would bet they are off the
scale meaning the water is toxic to the fish.