Joe,
On my kits, the levels of the Ammonia and Nitrite are on the bottom part of
the scale. The PH shows a little high.

I do not use a declorinator in my water. I have storage tubs that I place
on the edge of the pond, fill them, and let them sit for 24-48 hrs. I do
not know what is in my water and will see if I can find out.

I have a pre-filter on my pump, which I clean every few weeks. I have an
external filter that I clean weekly. I have had good success with them so
far.

thanks,
Ray
"joe" wrote in message
...
My test kit says that levels of 0.25 mg/litre of ammonia can be lethal. I
don't have the conversion to PPM, maybe Ingrid or someone else can chime
in.
My test kit also says that "As far as possible the nitrite concentration
should not exceed 0.20 mg/litre. At a level of 0.5 mg the fish will be
adversely affected."

Both ammonia and nitrite in high levels prevent fish from obtaining and
carrying oxygen.

Also:
This is a long shot, but has your community switched from chlorine to
chloramine in tap water? The latter takes way longer to dissipate (in fact
I
can't find anything that says it ever dissipates) and I'm wondering if you
use a dechlorinator? If not, you might go get a jug of amquel. It will
have
the side benefit of reducing your ammonia level. Would you consider your
filters effective? Poor filtering could lead to higher nitrite levels.

Sorry, don't know much about parasites, but many others on this list can
pipe in on the subject.

Joe


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