Do I just give up at this point

[Morganna]

Thank you all for your kind words and advice they're very much appreciated. In a while, once I am allowed to, I would like to try putting a betta in my planted 10 gallon. I've kept only platties for such a long time now, I think maybe another type of fish will do me good.

You have no idea how much I understand about losing fish and just wanting to walk away from it all! I've been stuck in this depressing fix for the last few months as well. When I first started fish keeping, it was a 5 gal, with fake plants, a male betta from Petsmart, and I often forgot to change water for weeks at a time. Despite this, my little betta lived for a year and a half. It was heartbreaking for me, because I took the responsibility to euthanize him myself.
After him, I decided I wanted to try the baby bettas offered at Petco (oh my goodness, what an awful idea it seems now). That was a year and a half ago. I upgraded to a 10 gal and tried to create a sorority (another awful idea, but I didn't know any better). I changed the water regularly, and tested it every week. It actually ran successfully for 6 months until I came home from a family trip to find that the automatic feeder had fed way too much, like so much that all 4 females looked pregnant and one was dead and the water was cloudy.
After that, my bettas were never the same, and each one died over the next few weeks. By March, I only had two bettas left, and had to be separated due to new aggression. One then fell ill due to over stress, and I had to put her in the hospital tank. But then my other one got sick too, and I had nowhere to put her, so she died suddenly. This leaves me with one betta, whom I've only had since December, and she appears to be on her deathbed despite all that I've tried to do.

I've named every single betta, and shed a tear for each one in turn, and wondered where I went wrong. In my 2 and a half years of fish keeping, I have kept and lost 8 bettas, soon to be 9 if my betta continues to keep going the way she is.

Sorry for such a long ballad, just know that I can sympathize more than you know.
I really hope for you and your fishs' sake that everything gets better for you.

 

[Morganna]

But also, NEVER give up on something you love, whether it's all of fish keeping or just the platties that you have taken under your care and responsibility. Never give up on them.