A Loudoun County (web|news) neighborhood has a mystery on it hands after fish living in a family's pond for years are suddenly showing up dead.

Hundreds of fish in the stocked pond on Lightridge Farm Road outside Aldie, Va. Died within the past couple of days and now people who live in the neighborhood want to know what is in the water.

Of all the acres on Hilda Robinson's farm, the acre of water is her favorite. "It holds a lot of memories for me and my children. They call this mom's home."

Robinson's mother had the pond built back in 1984, but this week the peace was replaced by puzzlement. "The dead fish just showed up."

Dozens of dead fish clearly all along the pond's shore. Robinson said she and her husband counted about 500 yesterday before vulture swooped in.

The dead fish worries people who live in the area. "this is not usually a good indicator of thing being good. Look at that - dead fish floating around," neighbor Mark Crombie said.

Crombie said he's only seen pond trouble once before, back in 1996 when tropical storm water washed toxic run-off from nearby land into the waters. That problem was fixed, but the current problem is a mystery. "I don't know if it's environmental or a pollutant. I'm not qualified to make that judgment."

Hilda Robinson hopes the county can analyze water samples to give an idea of what is happening. She's especially concerned because she and her family drink well water. "It's disappointing, it's discouraging, and it's sad."

The Robinson family hoped to get water samples tested soon, but the county told them they'll need to use different containers to collect the samples. The family also hopes the EPA will investigate.

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