aquarium cleaning

Question
I've been sick for awhile and my aquarium as been neglected. So i wanted to know could i clean the plastic plants in my aquarium when all the black stuff is on it.

Answer
i'm guessing that it's just algae?

If that's the case , just take them out of the tank and wash them out of the tank so it does not get the tank all messy. Proper maintanance to a tank is necessary to keep your fish alive. The most common mistake new people to the hobby do is lacking water changes and fish maintanance. They need a clean environment to live healthy.

I just saw i got a 5 rating for my answers, if you could tell me what i did wrong i would apprecaite it. You can infact clean your plants under water to get the black stuff off of it.