runner

I have an Echinodorus osiris which has grown a long flower stem, coming two feet out of the water, which now has lots of shoots on. How do I deal with it to get some new plants from this? Should the stem be under or out of the water? Any help gratefully received.

I bought an Amazon sword from a pet store 3 weeks ago and it came with a runner. However, after 3 weeks the runner still look the same. It didn't get taller. My plant look like this http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v458/Marv_Levy/Windows-1252BSU1HMDAwMjIuanBn.jpg (this is not my picture but...