<p>I had to ask. This is driving my roommate and me crazy!</p>
<p>We live in a brand-new dorm. When we moved in a few months ago, everything was fine. But about a week ago, our room developed a weird fishlike smell. We figured it was coming from one of our trash cans, so we took out the trash. It didn't help. </p>
<p>Can anyone 1) identify a potential source of the smell, and/or 2) tell us how to get rid of it? Hopefully the collective wisdom of CC can solve the mystery! </p>
<p>YOUR CLUES:</p>
<p>1) My roommate and I are very hygienic people. We both shower daily (she actually showers twice daily; I only wish I had that kind of spare time :)). You can take my word that neither of us smells like fish.</p>
<p>2) It isn't coming from our food. We both keep all of the food in our closets, which have curtains instead of doors. The spaces behind the curtains smell fine.</p>
<p>3) We tried opening a window and turning on the fan for a few hours. The room got about 20 degrees colder, but the smell lingered as strong as ever.</p>
<p>4) Since the advent of the smell, we have both done all of our laundry. No dirty clothes lying around.</p>
<p>5) We have also scrubbed down all of our surfaces (desks, shelves, etc.) with Lysol and swept the floors (they're tile).</p>
<p>6) There are blinds (not curtains) on the windows and we only have one rug (already sniffed it).</p>
<p>So...what is the cause of the smell? Any ideas would be welcome. As of right now, we're not annoyed enough to call maintenance or anything like that--which would be really embarrassing--but it's starting to mess with my ability to study for finals in the room because it gives me a headache.</p>
You are obviously annoyed enough to post on CC, and it seems to impact your quality of life as well as your academic performance. Time to call maintenance if you ask me. </p>
<p>Have you checked all the drawers and moved all the furniture? I had a faul smell in my room once, and it turned out that it came from some food that had fallen off my desk and was rotting out of sight. A friend of mine once found a dead mouse under the covering of her radiator. If you have central air conditioning, make sure the smell doesn’t come out of the vents.</p>
<p>In my house there was a dead mouse in a ceiling tile that stunk up the place for a while until we figured out what it was. So I’m going with the mouse idea too.</p>
<p>Have maintenance come check. Some types of mold can have a fishy smell. Sometimes electrical problems can present themselves as strange odors also. It is obviously bothering you. Call them and have them come check it out.</p>
<p>I’m kind of joking, but on this show, the smell was coming from the vents - someone stuck spoiled milk in one of the ducts and the smell spread everywhere in the dorm.</p>
<p>The problem is that we are all leaving for break on Tuesday morning, and I seriously doubt maintenance would get to us before then. Also, we have an in-floor heating system, so no heating vents, but there is a small air duct near the top of the wall.</p>
<p>@east89: The situation is too dire for jokes! </p>
<p>@flushmaverick: I’ve seen Dorm Life, and unfortunately my floor is much too tame. : )</p>
<p>I tried emailing my RA, but she hasn’t gotten back to me yet. Might have something to do with the fact that it’s the middle of Finals weekend.</p>
<p>Update: The smell has vanished! Turns out it was my roommate’s birthday flowers (after two weeks, they were a little past their prime) that were the problem. </p>