Is he on the way out

exhibiting following behaviours/appearance:

1. sluggish and hanging out near water filter where bubbles come out
2. feet look like they may have turned to claws
3. not eating - very skinny
4. feelers/lung-thingies have been reduced to stalks

Factors
1. Tank was filthy - didn't realise because detritus had sunk below tray
2. Recently accompanied by 10 feeder fish which he ate, all except for the last one. I am wondering if the last fish might have eaten his feelers or whether any of the fish might have passed on a disease.

I am also wondering if Cody may be in the process of metamorphosing.

Please help. I am v worried. Thank you.

What is your tank temperature?

He is not metamorphising. His condition will be due to temperature and or water quality conditions.

Remove him from the tank and place him in a container of dechlorinated water. Cover the container, wrap with a teatowel and place in the fridge (check that it's above 4C before doing so). Then place another container or bottle of dechlorinated water in the fridge this is so you can do daily waterchanges at the same temperature. If you don't want to put him in the fridge - which will help him to heal and has more oxygen in the colder water, you should still remove him from the tank put him in a bucket of dechlorinated water (nothing else) cover with a lid/piece of mesh or something so he doesn't jump out nor any animals get to him and place the bucket in a very cool area of the house. If possible use a fan nearby to help keep it cool. Teh bucket will need to be changed daily.

Feeder fish could have been one of the contributing factors leading to his appearance. They are dirty, excrete a lot of waste and can nibble axie gills - they also have parasites and yes can make your axie sick. You should avoid using feeder fish.

You'll need to test your tankwater for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. If you don't have the test kits take a sample of water to the petshop, ask them to test it then get them to write results on a paper for you. Don't buy anything the petshop advises if your ammonia, nitrite is high to fix it. You can fix these levels through daily partial waterchanges. Chemicals only muck up your cycling or established tankwater.

Did you clean out your tankwater completely? If you did this may have caused your tank to start cycling again.

Thanks so much for your help. I will definitely give all that a try - the tank temp has been about 19C but I am trying to cool it down with a frozen bottle of water in his tank. Where do you get dechlorinated water from? (might be a silly question)

Thanks again.

Not a silly question. Sorry, dechlorinated water is tapwater with added drops of either water ager/water conditioner or water dechlorinator. The dechlorinator/ager/conditioner removes chlorine and chloramines from your water before you add the water to the tank during a waterchange.

19C is fine. You only need to do the frozen bottle when it goes over 22-24C+ So if your highest tankwater temp is 19C you don't need to use it.