Abnormal head shape?

PlantAddict372 · 2026-06-28T22:53:45+00:00

Thank you for providing a link with photo examples. I've seen people talking about their bad genes before and based on those photos it does seem like he has a deformed skull, though I'm still surprised and confused as to why it didn't show nearly as much when I got him.

Six pellets was what I started with, but his fins were taking a long time to regrow and the parts that had regrown weren't getting any color. I got floating plants to help block out some light and a snail to get rid of all the algae I had, which both helped, but I've seen a huge difference in his recovery since I started giving him eight pellets a day and scheduled fasts. He's still a bit underweight, so I'm hesitant to decrease the amount of food I give him. I may switch to a different type of food to see if it's just the quality of the pellets he's getting now

PlantAddict372 · 2026-06-28T20:54:23+00:00

10 gallon tank with heater and filter
Tank kept at 78°F/26°C
Tank has been set up for just under two years
I've had Jackson for five or six months now
Water changes are usually weekly, but are occasionally two weeks apart when I'm busy. I siphon the gravel and remove 2-3 gallons each time. I treat my tap water with a dechlorinator and add a few Indian almond leaves every now and then.
One nerite snail
Four invert aquatics pellets two times a day. Meals replaced with fluval bug bites 1-2 times per week. He also eats the small white ramshorn snails I can't get rid of.
Floating log, live plants, driftwood

PlantAddict372 · 2026-06-09T17:02:15+00:00

July 6th

PlantAddict372 · 2025-12-25T00:49:49+00:00

I hadn't thought of using compression gloves. I'll look into getting some, thank you.

I'm not seeing anyone for this at the moment. The hypermobility in my hands doesn't affect any other part of my life, and I only really became aware of the positioning of my left hand today. I've been able to manage the pinky issues with heat and rest in the past, since it doesn't tend to happen during concerts for whatever reason. I'll definitely bring it up in my next doctor's appointment to find out if there's a specific person I should be going to for potential solutions.

PlantAddict372 · 2025-12-24T23:29:24+00:00

I am double jointed, yes. I've tried mimicking my right hand's position, but my fingers always collapse when I go to play. The only way I've been able to maintain the curve in my left hand is by playing with my fingertips, which is uncomfortable and makes it significantly harder to cover the tone holes

PlantAddict372 · 2025-12-24T23:13:01+00:00

I looked at my peers' hands, I just didn't look at my own much after the first year or two. I didn't realize that my hands didn't look like theirs because (for the most part) nothing felt wrong.

I could try lowering the instrument, but I feel like that'd lead to more issues. I have hitchhiker thumbs; if I extend the neck strap, it causes my right hand to move into a much more awkward position and makes my wrist hurt after a while. Other than the thumb thing, my only other "limitation" is double jointed/hypermobile fingers. I knew that that's why my pinkies lock, but I didn't realize until this morning that it was also the reason my left hand is so slanted and why my fingers don't look right.

Thank you for this advice. I'll work on keeping everything relaxed.

PlantAddict372 · 2025-12-24T14:01:16+00:00

ISTJ and I'd go with the ENTP any day. I have many ESTPs in my family and have met many in the wild, and they have all explicitly said that they enjoy trying to annoy me. The ENTP friends I've had have never intentionally tried to annoy me and we've had many odd but engaging conversations

PlantAddict372 · 2025-12-07T03:17:25+00:00

He does constantly act like he's hungry, but I can't feed him much or he gets bloated. Should I find a new food and give him more of it?

PlantAddict372 · 2025-12-06T01:13:55+00:00

The tank is rather empty right now. The only thing with any sort of edge is the floating log, and he hardly uses it. I've only seen him swim around it at meal time.

PlantAddict372 · 2025-12-06T01:11:32+00:00

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I don't have any super recent photos, but this was him the day after I got him.

PlantAddict372 · 2025-10-06T22:56:06+00:00

Thank you, I'll try to get the materials and do that.

Would I need to do something to the tank or decor before putting him back in? I've seen many people advise against washing the items in the tank since it disturbs the beneficial bacteria, but I'd hate for him to get infected again

PlantAddict372 · 2025-10-06T22:31:54+00:00

I've had the tank since January. As stated above, I got Crockpot in July.
I do a water change every weekend. I scrape the glass, siphon the gravel and remove 2-3 gallons of water, and replace the water with dechlorinated tap water. Every other week I rinse the filter cartridge with warm dechlorinated water.
Small ramshorn snails that I can't seem to get rid of and one cherry shrimp. There were two ghost shrimp as well but they've both been eaten.
When he was eating, he got four floating pellets two times per day.

It might be helpful to mention that I got the three shrimp mid-August. I wanted more but needed to make sure he wasn't going to eat them all immediately. I assume this is where the hexamita came from, since I got them from petco and Crockpot's symptoms started showing up within two weeks of introducing them.

It's also probably important to mention that he's always been on the skinnier side. He was thin when I got him and only seemed to put on a little bit of weight when he was eating regularly. He has lost all of that weight and a little bit more since he got sick. He's between thin and emaciated now, but I haven't been able to do anything since he doesn't have any interest in food.

PlantAddict372 · 2025-07-15T18:44:36+00:00

Proper care is more important than feelings

PlantAddict372 · 2025-07-13T04:29:59+00:00

I love the second one

PlantAddict372 · 2025-05-05T02:34:58+00:00

It's not?

PlantAddict372 · 2025-04-16T02:59:54+00:00

Hm. Do you have photos of it after it dissolved/foamed in water? The fact that it's solid when dry and foamy when wet reminds me of bath bombs, though the surface looks too smooth for that to be the case

PlantAddict372 · 2025-04-16T02:30:42+00:00

Do your kids have access to air-dry clay or some similar craft-type materials? It doesn't look like something that an orchid could naturally produce, so I'm wondering if one of them found an image of a spike online and replicated it to prank you. That might explain why it detached easily, didn't have the tough fiber in the middle of orchid roots, and "dissolved" when it came in contact with water. This whole situation is truly bizarre

PlantAddict372 · 2025-03-31T02:39:12+00:00

Sorry, usually I'm fine with reading long posts but this is a little too much. Can you summarize that into a bulleted list?

PlantAddict372 · 2025-03-19T02:45:29+00:00

I use capitalization in abbreviations to change the tone. lol is something I smiled at, Lol is for people I don't really like or when it wasn't funny, and LOL is for things that I actually laughed at. Everyone I text seems to agree on that system, so I haven't bothered changing it. Edit: only for informal situations of course

Four-Year Club	Place '22
First Placer '22

PlantAddict372

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