My fish are falling apart !..

Ok I have had my fish for a while; they were just 28 cent gold fish from wal mart but I have had them for quite a few months now and they have grown to be really big & I have gotten attatched - sad I know. Anyway I have a nice size tank set up in my room; I had two sucker fish and 6 of the other fish. Recently one died and it looked funny; like it was falling apart or something but I didnt really think anything of it; then today I got home from school and two more fish were dead; one of the suckers and one of the gold fish and half of the gold fish looked like all of it's scales were gone. I have looked at the other fish and they look look sick; one especially is losing it's scales / skin and they look horrible does anyone know whats going on with my fish & why they suddenly caught this " disease " or what ever it is ?

Ashley, have you ever changed any of the fishies water in the past few months? Goldfish are disgustingly dirty fish, and put out alot of waste, particularly adding to ammonia levels... It is probably too late, but I would change about 1/4 of the water ASAP and another 1/4 24 hours later, clean your gravel and hope for the best.

Your best bet is to get your water tested. Did the tank have a filter? Was it cycled? Did the sucker fish have an ample supply of algae? Did anything get into the water? Are the goldfish gasping at the surface? It sounds like you have something really wrong in that tank.