What went wrong? (My fish died)

[Esmerelda]

My fish died this week. I don't know what happened, except that it was a swim bladder issue. It became worse everyday, despite my use of epsom salt and Kanaplex, along with API stress coat. It all happened very, very suddenly. It started with clamped fins despite the pristine water conditions and quickly escalated to writhing around in pain. In the end, when I realized I couldn't do anything more, I put her down using some clove essential oil.
After my ADFs died last year, I thought I had learned and improved my 5.5 gallon tank setup. But now that I lost my fish, I feel awful. I would be irresponsible to try again with another fish. I would feel like a fish killer if I just moved on to another one, even though I do want another fish.
I have every intention to come back to fish keeping later, but I think I need a long break to figure things out.
I would appreciate any trouble shooting methods you might have. Meanwhile, I might sell my aquarium or turn it into a terrarium. I've also been curious about shrimp keeping, although I've heard it's hard.

 

[bgarthe]

Sorry about your loss. Sounds like you did all you could and that’s the best a fish could hope for. We all have things like this happen too. Don’t be too hard on yourself.
The only thing that I see that might make things easier is to get and use a 10g or larger tank. Small tanks are relatively harder to maintain (imho) bc the volume of water is so small and thus easier to become unstable. Taking a break is fine, but do come back…..you sound like a very caring and consciences fish keeper.

 

[Angelfish1977]

I am sorry to hear about the loss of your betta. Unfortunately you probably did the best that you could do for it. I have to agree with bgarthe that the bigger tanks are easier to keep stable than small tanks. I hope you come back to the hobby soon we will be here for when you return.

 

[Archtop]

Sorry for your loss. I do hope you don’t bail from the hobby for long. One suggestion when you return is a slightly bigger tank if possible. Small tanks have a small margin for error. I am not suggesting a huge tank, but maybe 10 to 20 gallons.

 

[Angelfish1977]

I know you probably won’t need one this big for betta. But I would say a 35 gallon cube tank like I have is a pretty good option.

 

[Noroomforshoe]

You can do everything right in this hoby and still have losses. I have 18 year old loaches but the betta I bought did not last a year

but i have to aggre, the bigger the tank, the better.