I've got some Hygrophilia difformis planted in my 4ft, when I first got it it looked totally boring and had round leaves, but after having it for a month all of it's leaves transformed into spindly, cool looking things. I like it!
I got 7 convicts last Sunday and four of them have paired up already, both pairs have staked out territory and I know one of them have definately layed eggs (see attached pic) and I can't really see if the other pair has or not because they've chosen a really inacessable place. How will I know if the eggs are fertile or not? Will the babies be ok eating Liquifry?
Here's what my dad said:
I had a chat with Alice about it. She feels it's probably a benign tumour since it's well demarkated. ie not spreading underneath the skin. She might ask Cathy about it since Cathy does more with zoo animals and fishes. Alice said that the zoo vets would do surgery like that. They'd just put some anesthetic in the water and "lop it off". How long has it taken to grow to that size is a question that could answer a lot as well. Obviously if it's very rapid growing then good night ladies. The concern with it is of course that it's going to unbalance it and possibly get bumped and injured and lead to other problems. So if it's a valuable fish it could be worthwhile looking into getting it removed.
I've emailed your pic to some Vet Pathologists (my dad works with them) they should be able to tell fairly certainly what it is (they do this stuff for a living so you'd hope they would.)
The fridge wouldn't kill them but the freezer would. I think the freezer's rather inhumane because some fish can stand lower temperatures, so they might even be conscious when ice crystals start to form.
The time it takes to be waterlogged varies depending on the type of wood and how long it's already been in the water. To make it sink faster soak it in boiling water with some baking soda in it.