MELBOURNE, Fla. — There is a sad, smelly situation in Melbourne after millions of dead fish turned up in a creek tied to the Indian River Lagoon.

It's made for a stinky day on the water and has prompted officials to find out why it happened.

"Get away from the smell, trying to work here," said boat owner Jim Brown, who got to the marina around 8:30 a.m. Monday only to find the massive fish kill and the smell of millions of dead fish in Crane Creek at the Melbourne Harbor Marina.

Brown decided to move his boat to the other side of the marina to get away from the sight and smell.

"It's nasty," he said.

Word of the kill quickly spread.

Leesa Souto, of the Marine Resources Council in Palm Bay, went to see it for herself.

"What I thought interesting was they were all the same species," Souto said. "This is an unusual fish kill."

Souto said it appears it's the result of another algae bloom, one that may have been caused by a wastewater discharge.

As a result of the bloom, the oxygen in the water was reduced — ultimately to a level that killed all of the fish.

"We've got a lagoon full of algae, we've had it all winter, and it will continue throughout the summer, and we will continue to have these fish kills up and down the tributaries and the canals," she said.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating and will test the water to see if the kill was caused by an algae bloom, and if so, what type was involved.