Of crustaceans and men

It seems, in the aquarium universe, shrimp are the canaries in the coal mine. I had a very nice Singapore wood shrimp in with my more finned aquaria for a couple of months. It seemed to be doing quite well filtering the water as they do. It had even shed for the first time. I had been meaning to do a partial water change this weekend, but that wasn't soon enough. Two mornings ago, it was lying on its side out in the open, which it never does. The aparent cause of death was excessive ammonia, which is quite deadly to them. An albino tiger barb and a diseased rosy barb had died in the tank the night before and the released ammonia was enough to do the job. I should have removed the two fish once I realized they were ill to protect the others. A lesson learned.