Is it a carpet of algae? Algae eating fish would relish it. Is it for aesthetic reasons? Does it seem to be causing any environmental problems. If removing it is the bottom line, I would scrape what you can and bleach afterward, followed by rinsing well and soaking in a plastic container of water before being put back in the tank.

I guess it's algae, I'm not sure. I do have two chinese algae eaters, but they don't seem to eat it off of the drift wood. And yes, it is for aesthetic reasons, it really is getting out of hand. Should I get a plec to help out?? Thanks :) Christy

Here is a picture of it:

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Alge, are you adding any fertilizers to the water for your plants? Your water may have too much neutriants or phospate. Usually plants will out compete the alge for neutriants. I would recommend you take out the driftwood and scrub it off with a course sponge, chemicals can harm your plants and mess up your filter.You can check phospate and there are filter miterials that removes it. Also check ammo and nitrate, ammo should be zero and nitrate low [under 30ppm?]. Overfeeding can cause this also, do the fish finish the food or does some float to the bottom? I have it too, I just pull it off by hand when it gets over 4" or so.

chineese golden algae eaters are useless as algae eaters. They eat some as juvies, but then nadda. It almost looks like BBA (black brush algae). The pictures are not clear and I am tired. If so, the only fish that will eat it are "TRUE" SAEs (siamese algae eaters) and some barbs like golden and tiger. Don't add algae killer products. I wouldn't bleach the wood either. You could scrub it with a stiff brush and boil it. This may work. If it's BBA then it is hard to kill.

Definitely algae. Is your tank near a window? Are your tank lights always on? If so, shield the tank from all sunlight. Covering the back with something dark (black) will reduce the amount of light reflected back into the tank. Reduce the number of hours you keep the tank lights on. The reason I suspect light is that it looks like the algae isn't confined to the driftwood. Your rocks and fern leaves are also covered, just not a much. From the amount I see, it appears that there is a good possibility that you have too much light. As mentioned, excess feeding and anything else that adds to the nutrients could also be a problem. I agree with the previous statements about chemicals. Don't use bleach on wood. Algae spores are everywhere. It doesn't take long for it to take hold if you feed it too much or have too much light or both. HTH

I would add a pleco and/or otocynclus cats. As to bleaching, if you want to err on the side of caution, don't do it. Nice looking Balas!