Okay, Utah. The reason I asked is we have a native fish here in Florida that 'gloms up' a tremendous quantity of string algae but it would never survive a Utah winter.
Is your pond new? And is this the first time you have had this problem?
I have treated it with no success.
What did you treat it with?
Here is what I would do:
1. Determine the source of the excessive nutrients. This is essential regardless if you use copper or any other band-aid method. Look for decaying leaves dropped by nearby trees, runoff water from your yard and anything else that could be adding nutrients such as a bird feeder. This is sort of gross, but you should drag the bottom of the pond to see if there is a dead animal in there.
2. Manually remove the algae. Yep, it takes time and effort. As they say, "Been there done it!" It is painful but works. Get the kids (if you have kids) some new toilet brushes and tell 'em to roll it up.
3. Aerate the water. This works well.
4. Tint the water...not my favorite but it does have benefits.
5. After removing the algae, consider using barley extract or barley straw. It works well in a clean pond but will not work if there is algae present.
6. Build a bog filter. Bog filters are sensational. However, they can't overcome (nor can any other method overcome) a situation where massive quantities of nutrients are introduced.
@Jasonc, you came to the right place for assistance. This forum rocks!