Geo ID and random death please help

[MHcblues119]

Alright so I haven't had problems with losing fish in a long time. But I finally found a good deal on some decent sized geos for 4 at $10 a piece. I brought them home this friday and drip acclimated them for almost 2 hours before releasing them into there new grow out 75g home. They are housed with x4 clown loaches, x3 tiger botias, and 1 pictus cat.
All looked good for the first couple days, they gobbled up flakes, bloodworms, and pellets and were actively exploring their new home.
So last night i got home from work to find one dead and being eaten by all the loaches. Took him out and just assumed he didnt adjust well to the new tank or was previously stressed from the move, and the remaining 3 looked fine. Still eating and acting normal. But today I came home again to find 2 more laying dead on the bottom of the tank. Not sure what the problem is.
After dinner I plan on doing a 25% water change and testing the water before hand. So i will post the parameters in an hour or two.

But also i would like to get a positive ID on these guys. Because if i can get this figured out i will probably go pick up a few more.
Was sold to me as Geophagus surinamensis, but i have heard they are usually mis ID'd.

Thank you in advanced

 

[peathenster]

These look like A. heckelii. I'd suggest a larger wc, like as much as you can. 25% doesn't do much.

 

[MHcblues119]

You sure? Here are some other fish my brother purchased that were sold to him as heckelli....

And ok I'm about to do a 50% waterchange

And i forgot to mention that tank is filtered by an fx5 filled with scrubbies and is kept at a constant 83 degrees to avoid ich with my loaches

 

[Empyreal]

Looks like he got them mixed up. The first pic you posted were definitely Heckeli as mentioned. The second pic look more like surinamensis. Maybe you got them mixed up?

 

[petspoiler]

your fish are A. heckelli. I agree with peathenster on water. I would also put in some kind of fake plants or something so they feel less constantly in each others way. relief/relaxation from space stress.

 

[MHcblues119]

those pictures are of the fish in the store before i purchased them. My 75 has 2 huge pieces of driftwood with plenty of line of sight breakage

I also talked to my buddy who works at the store and he said that he wasn't suprised that they were mis id'd and he told me to send him a picture of my parameters and was going to talk to the owner because he said the store has lost multiple of the heckelli also.

My parameters are:
PH 6.8
Nitrate 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Ammonia 0ppm

Any ideas as to why i lost 3?

 

[petspoiler]

when a tank is fully cycled there should be "some" measurable nitrates, unless tested right after an enormous water change. check your test kit.
my tap water PH is 7.7 to 7.8 & heckelli both captive bred & wild caught have done fine.

 

[JK47]

My parameters are:
PH 6.8
Nitrate 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Ammonia 0ppm

Any ideas as to why i lost 3?

How long has the tank been running? Asbin are you positive its cycled? 0ppm nitrate is nearly impossible to achieve in a cycled tank. Next I would ask how old is you test kit? What type of test kit are tou using?

My 500 gallon gets 50% new water a day via drip system and I would be giddy to have nitrates under 10ppm much less 0ppm.

 

[MHcblues119]

Here is a picture of the test i took earlier. I bought the kit brand new about a year ago. The tank has been set up for about 2 months now and I do 25% water changes every 3-4 days. When the tank was set up it was also seeded with media from 2 other tanks so if i had to say yes the tank is cycled. About a week ago the tank registered 5ppm nitrate

 

[petspoiler]

each API test bottle is stamped with an expiration date.
If those are ok, (I'm guessing) treat the tank with any new heckelli for IP's.? Or have the lfs do them all there, since he's had losses too.
but think hard about any other symptoms which you and lfs may have dismissed as "adjustment" issues, it could be signs of something else.