Never thought about cutting one open, JW, getting more and different information seems like every day, just have no way to know what is the root of this problem without an expert on site. I would have no problem cutting open a dead fish, but I guess I would need to know what they wanted to look at specifically. My camera takes real good close up pics. Maybe I will post a new thread, although I've already got one going on fish that have died, so maybe will post it on there. Dave from the UK sent me a link to e-book, so hoping to read up on the issues that are possibilities, and see if anything clicks.
Tonight I talked to another man locally, who raised prawn (freshwater shrimp) and he seems to think that the fungicide which was sprayed by plane a day or two before I got home from UT (to find 5 dead fish, the first of over 10 now that have died) could very likely be the problem. He suggested that I put 3 of the 6 fish from the Q-tank into a bucket of fresh well water with no chemicals added, and see what happens. As he said, if they bounce back, I will know that the water is the issue, not a parasite. I've seen no flashing, so that leads me to believe that parasites is not the problem. Just need to keep adding possibilities to the list, and then marking them off when I find they are not the cause.
Not a one store in my area (Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Menards, Rural King) had a microscope "but we will have the kiddie ones before Christmas" ... so I came home empty handed ... again. At least I can read the book on my computer, so that will make me feel better.
And, while I was draining the pond down (25% water change tonight) and then filling it, I did mess around with the waterfall and landscaping, and that relieved lots of stress I've been under with this fish issue. I'm hoping to have some alert bouncy fish in the morning in the bucket! Praying for a quick recovery, and something that I can fix sooner rather than later .... we shall see ...