I live in Southeast Michigan and just purchased a home with two ponds. The "front pond" is like an afterthought pond... seems to have been dug just for fun. There's no fish in it and it doesn't seem to have any problems.

The "back pond", is the pretty one... well it's supposed to be anyway. I'd say it's about 3/4 acre around, 2-15 feet deep. There are supposedly hybrid bass any bluegill in it, and from the sounds of it, many many frogs.

I should have asked the homeowner how to maintain it, as it looked beautiful just last fall but now the algae and cattails seem to be taking over! I bought Admiral a month ago but just received it in the mail today. And by now, there is a lot of algae... being a newbie I don't know exactly what kind but it floats on the surface and is bright green. Can I skim this off with a pool skimmer, put the admiral in and assume there won't be much of it coming back?

And what can I do about the cattails? From what I've read, no chemical will rid of them well without harming the fish. Should I get in there and trim/pull them?

I am on a budget but I do want to get a better start next spring than I did this spring... any suggestions as far as what chemicals to use to keep the cattails and algae at bay?

Any other tricks/tips are appreciated as well.

It sounds like filamentous algae. Very common problem for pond owners. There are a few ways to get rid of it. I've read a lot on here about a chemical called Cutrine. There are a lot of posts on this forum about this product that should help you. I've never used cutrine, but I've always used copper sulfate crystals better known as bluestone on algae. This stuff works quick but don't put too much in the pond at one time or it will cut off the oxygen underwater and the fish will die. I had that happen at one of my ponds 3 years ago. After catching fish out of my other ponds and transferring since, I'm now catching big fish.

As far as cattails, it depends on whether you really want them or not. They cn provide structure for bass and make a decent place for fishing. The cattails will die when it turns cold and sometimes won't grow back. Personally, they don't bother me unless they cover the whole pond. I've read that Weedtrine-D, Rodeo, and/or Reward will kill cattails.

Hope this helps

Just wondering if what has shown up might be duckweed and bullrushes as opposed to algae and cattails. The cattails will not grow in deep water but only around the shore. Here in Central Ontario I haven't seen fillament type algae yet this spring but the duckweed has started(it seems to grow under the ice sometimes)