Bradenton, Fla. – Just before Mother's Day Weekend, Jeff Riggan started to smell something pungent outside his apartment. He is an artist and often paints the wildlife that frequent the ponds in the Carlton Arms Apartment complex. 

“Everyday, everyday I am out here doing this," he said with a brush in his hand. He has been an artist since he was 15, and these days he mostly paints wildlife. 

“That is the game around here. Love wildlife, born and raised around here," he continued. 

But on Thursday last week a smell started to disrupt the outdoor painting process. It smelled of death. “Well, first of all, you can’t get past the smell, that is for sure, and then you are noticing a few fish popping up," said Riggan. 

He followed his nose and came across a massive blue crab between his fence and the nearest pond. It was dead. “He couldn’t take the water just like the fish," Riggan said. 

Riggan began walking to all of the ponds and found hundreds of dead fish clustered along the banks. A big problem with so many dead fish is that they attract birds. “The scavengers come in. The premium birds come in, the big blue herrings, and all the egrets, and wood storks, and there are around here having a feast. But they are fighting with the buzzards over the carcasses and the remains of all these dead fish," Riggan reported. 

While the vultures are a bit ominous, Riggan finally had it when he came upon a group of close to 500 dead fish. 

“Look at this, this is horrible," he said. FWC did come out to investigate and found this fish kill was caused from low oxygen in these particular bodies of water. Low oxygen happens on windy days and when there is long periods of cloud coverage.

Either way, Riggans wants the apartment complex to try and find a way to put more oxygen in the water so this does not happen again. “Whoever needs to fix whatever they need to fix, I hope that happens, because we can’t keep seeing this," said Riggan. 

FWC said the two species of fish most affected were mojarra and mullet.