VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Officials are working to determing why hundreds of fish have been found dead floating down West Neck Creek.

The City of Virginia Beach told 10 On Your Side Monday it reached out to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality about the issue. The department posted a tweet Tuesday morning saying staff responded to the area to investigate.

“At first I thought it was nothing big, but the more they kept floating by I realized that we have a problem, something is killing all of the fish!” said Eliot Fiaschi, who contacted 10 On Your Side.

Fiaschi, who serves in the U.S. Navy, lives in the Windsor Woods area of Virginia Beach and his home backs up to West Neck Creek. He has built a small dock at the base of his property.

“I come down here with the dog everyday,” Fiaschi said.

But Monday, he immediate knew something wasn’t right.

“As soon as I looked out into the water I saw fish floating by belly up, Fiaschi said. “And I saw some fish pooling up down by the dock … kind of struck me as odd as there is a real oily sheen on the water today. It almost looks like drops of oil all over the place. Which is real different from normal ‘the water.'”

Several dead fish were seen floating down West Neck Creek in Virginia Beach on Monday July 1st, 2019 (Brett Hall/WAVY-TV)

The creek flows through the city from the Lynnhaven River and eventually dumping out in the North Landing River in Pungo.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has cited low dissolved oxygen is a chronic problem for the waterway in the past.

Julie Hill, a spokesperson for the City of Virginia Beach, said, “Public Works Operations investigates fish kills along with the Department of Environmental Quality at the state.”