What does it mean if my pool has chloramines and what should I do about it?

Chloramines mean your pool’s chlorine has already neutralized contaminants but hasn’t been refreshed, leaving no active sanitizer. You need to shock the pool by adding enough chlorine to raise free chlorine to about 10x the combined chlorine level. Test after a few hours—if free chlorine holds, you’re good; if not, something is consuming it faster. That “pool smell” is chloramines, not chlorine, so fix this before swimming.