I'm not so sure bacteria is a big factor. I also suspect that the smell is that of algae, not fish---at least it's true in my case. I've had fish tanks and ponds and I know that smell all too well!

Microalalgae exist in ground water as well as bodies of water, which would explain why it doesn't seem to matter if your water comes from a well or public water supply. They multiply very rapidly (look up "algae bloom") which could explain why the smell comes and goes...maybe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphyte

There's lots of interesting reading on microalgae if anyone's interested.

The algae smell on my dishes was most noticeable on glass, which is an inert material (doesn't react to other substances and doesn't absorb them). All I had to do was cut the detergent amount in half so that my low-water dishwasher could rinse better. The dishes still get clean with half the amount of detergent. This is an easy thing to try; if it doesn't work for you, the worst that will happen is that the smell will still be there and/or your dishes might not be totally clean, then you move on to the next test.

Plastic doesn't absorb heat (or cold) at nearly the rate of metal, ceramic, or glass, so that may have something to do with plastic dishes not picking up the odor.

Ok will try it spanky Md. But my only question is do you have smell with hand washed dishes? We do. And it dissipates if we close the windows on both machine and hand washed.

My dishes are fine when washed by hand, or even when just rinsed well under the tap after washing in the dishwasher (before i figured out that too much detergent was the issue for me).

By the way, live algae doesn't smell, it's when it is decomposing that it has that pond scum odor---which we associate with fish! This might be why some people get the odor when using the extra-hot cycle on their dishwashers, and also for people whose water heaters are turned up very high. High heat will kill algae.

I don't know what opening or closing windows might have to do with it, though.

Ok spanky_md.

And how do you explain that it's happening only in the summer/warm season? I've been using the very same temp, detergent and cycle all the time.

I don't know---maybe more algae present in the water supply? It multiplies faster in warm weather, at least many types do.

I'm only tossing this out there as something else to consider. Maybe it's a common factor, maybe not.

That's the problem with this issue - there isn't a COMMON factor with all these complaints...except the smell, lol.

Since I stopped using the heated drying cycle, reduced the wash time to 1 hour and don't run the hot water faucet before washing, I haven't had the odor on my dishes, sliverware and glasses. Once in a while I do notice it in my kitchen sinks. Can't tell if it's the sinks themselves, the drains or what, but when I notice it, or the plastic sink protectors in the bottoms of the sink that I have to keep from scratching the stainless steel, so I plug the drains and soak the plastic protectors in water with soap and bleach and the scrub the sinks and rinse. Seems to last for a while, a week or so. So for now, my dishes are fine, it's just my kitchen sinks periodically.

Interesting one today. Went outside with two glasses. One was empty and dry (was washed in D/W the night before). Second was filled with carbonated lime water (home made soda stream water with a lime squeezed in it). Both glasses smelled fine inside. Outside, the dry glass started to smell after 15 seconds, but the lime water glass was fine 2 hours later even.

It may smell like algae from a fish tank (and I agree that it kind of does) but I certainly would not expect algae in public water which is treated with chlorine or water from a well which is a hundred feet deep or more and in my case my well water runs through a UV filter which sterilizes it .

brownress, you would think so, right? Chlorine seems able to kill anything it touches. However, if you google "microalgae in public water supply", there are a lot of articles and studies about it. Here's just one excerpt (my bolding):

1. The adverse effects of algae include taste and odor, filter clogging,
   oxygen depletion, toxin production, the formation of disinfection
   byproducts, undesirable pH changes, and scum formation in lakes
   and reservoirs. The production of objectionable taste-and-odor
   substances is one of the most common deleterious effects of algae
   in water supplies, resulting in higher treatment costs and affecting
   the acceptability of the water to the consumers. This problem can
   also lead to the erosion of public confidence in the water supply. The
   usual odors or off-flavors are earth-musty, moldy, fishy, grassy or
   “septic.” The most difficult odors to deal with are those involving the
   earthy-musty compounds geosmin or 2-methylisoborneol (MIB), which
   can be detected by many people at extremely low concentrations
   (<15 ng/L). They are very difficult to remove by conventional
   treatment, although they can be removed by ozone or granular
   activated carbon.

Google "algae in well water"----it's also a problem! I would not have guessed it either but there it is. Yech!

Very interesting information and surprising too. I think that you may actually be onto something to explain this phenomenon and why it is so sporadic. According to one paper that I just read, these odors are not caused by the actual bacteria or fungi but by-products from them. Therefore it is a chemical, not the living organism that is causing the odor. This means that my UV light might kill any microbes but it will not remove their by-products. I think that I am going to start changing my charcoal filter more often.

If these microbial by-products are the source of the odor then they are being left being after washing dishes either by hand or in the dishwasher. I totally believe that it is not the dishwasher causing the odor.

I never really believed that it was the air causing the odor either but it did seem odd that several people mention only having the odor in the warm weather. I was thinking that it might be related to more humidity in the summer but now it begins to make sense since warmer weather leads to increased growth of the microorganisms that produce this chemical that is detectible in very low concentrations and may smell fishy.

This problem in now happening with my (1.5 yr old) Bosch DW. It was also occurring with the old DW that was in the house when I purchased it. When this new DW was being installed, the install guys said the fishy odor happens when the hose connector thingy that goes between DW and sink (down under your sink near the trap) is not up and way above the trap from the trap for the garbage disposal. What's happening is nasty stuff from in the sink trap is getting back into the DW trap. (gross). It's not your detergent, it's not the heating element, it's not the fact that you ate eggs...it's none of that.

It's all due to the positioning of the hose/DW trap. I remember the install guys commenting that there wasn't much room under my sink due to where the disposal was and it was a very tight fit and getting the hose up as high as they wanted wasn't possible but they thought they got it high enough.

This is one cause of a nasty odor but I do not have a disposal and my dishwasher trap is positioned properly. It was installed properly by a plumber so it is not the cause of the odor that I encounter.

Do we ALL have stainless steel tubs in our dws?

No - I do not have a stainless steel tub. The smell has been better this summer - I don't know why but I am doing what another person suggested by starting off with normal temp. water (not letting the water run to hot before running dishwasher) and using 1/2 the amount of Cascade I used to. I have only smelled the odor once this summer.

Funny thing - we just went out of state to visit son and...guess what....I smelled the fishy smell on one of his glasses and he lives in an apartment BUT had the windows open in his bedrooms to bring in some cool air!! I STILL think this all has to do with air from outside.

My previous dw had a plastic tub and my current one is stainless. I have smelled it with both dishwashers as well as at a house with NO dishwasher. It is NOT caused by the actual dishwasher or you would not be able to smell it on dishes that have never been in a dw or washed with dw detergent.

I have stainless steel, but the one before this one was not. Here we are again in Nov. and the smell is still on my ceramic items, but not on any plastic or silverware. I still cannot take outside a glass cup with water in it to drink. In less than 1 minute the smell is on the glass and in the water. Now I can take outside a plastic mug or cup no problem. I have tried all the different dishwasher detergents that the manufacturer recommended. No help. I am convinced that it is soil based which when combined with the air becomes foul, smelling like dead fish. So unless we drain our neighborhoods of all the soil and replace it, I see this as never ending. Oh when my dog comes in, she stinks to hi heaven. It takes about 30 mins. for the smell to leave here body. I am wishing you all good hunting to solve the problem.

I have stainless steel as well. I was able to manage the problem towards the end of the summer by doing the following steps:

1. Disinfected all non-plastic dishes by hand in a solution of diluted bleach (5 minutes soaked in the sink); then let them air-dry (no rinse after with water).

2. Turned my hot water boiler to max for 24 hours then back to normal

3. Sprayed diluted bleach in the inside of my dishwasher and ran a rinse cyle

It made a huge difference - I didn't have any problems from air coming from outside. I still noticed the smell a bit if I took my glass outside for a while, but never noticed any smell inside the house from regular use like I used to.

My guess is whatever is causing the smell was built up in the water and on the dishes, so this blasted whatever it was.

I've commented on this before. This only happens with the dishwasher, not dishes washed by hand. It's not the water, the air or the soil. I'm convinced it only happens when there are dishes in the dishwasher that had either eggs or fish. If I wash any dishes with eggs or fish by hand, I get no smell on the rest of the dishes in the washer. I also have tended to turn off the heat cycle and air dry. That helps avoid the smell and saves energy.

I talked to a professional dishwasher repair guy about this. He said bacteria builds up on areas inside the works from the washed food waste. These are places that cannot be reached, like way down in the hoses and underneath where the filter is. The best way to get this odor out is to use one of those dishwasher cleaning products that has citric acid, that you put in the silverware basket and then run the dishwasher when it's empty. He gave me one and yes, it worked. You need to run one of these through approximately once a month or so, depending on how often you have the issue. He also advised to not leave food on plates even though the dishwasher makers say you can. Also, keep your dishwasher cracked open in between loads to help it air out.

It does happen on dishes washed by hand but probably more often in a dishwasher.

Fishy-smell glassware, plates, & bowls have been a problem for us over the last 5 years, although it only occurs every few days or so. We have lived in two different homes, but had the same problem. The common denominators are: new construction, new dishwashers, water softeners, and use of Finish Liquid Gel detergent. We've lived in the southwest for 20 years, but for 15 years with older dishwashers and powdered high-phosphate soap, never had the problem. After reading this entire forum, all the way back to 2010, I have concluded that, at least in our case, the problem is a combination of inconsistent municipal water composition reacting with the detergent and plastic dishes. It's a chemical soup inside the dishwasher, and if the perfect storm of these 3 issues occurs, we get "the smell." Yes, adding an upturned glass of white vinegar to the mix reduces the smell and shines the dishes, but doesn't work each and every time. We've had our plumbing checked, our filters are squeaky clean, and we pre-rinse. None of that is the problem. I am convinced our municipal water is part of the problem because we noticed the smell coming from the bathroom once after a shower. We also noticed it on our tile floors once after mopping with tap water. My husband also noticed "the smell" once in the restroom of our community clubhouse. Note, that's once in an entire year. So the water supply is part of the problem, which makes sense, as the mineral composition of municipal water can vary from day to day, or hour to hour depending on many factors. This doesn't mean the water is dangerous, it just means when combined with other factors, it might contribute to the smell. I'm going to try the least expensive remedy first. I'm going to handwash all my plastics so they're not reacting with the water and the dishwashing detergent. I'm going to use the high heat setting for the dishwasher, and air dry rather than heat dry. If none of this works, I'll switch out my detergent to powdered Cascade.

EUREKA! IT'S THE DETERGENT (regardless of the brand)!! Here are a couple of tips that get rid of the odor.

(1) After the dishwasher is done, pour about a quarter cup of vinegar into where the dishes are and run just the rinse cycle.

(2) Use homemade dishwasher detergent. I make mine from washing soda, salt, Lemishine (citric acid), borax (sometimes), and a few drops of dish soap. I also fill the rinse aid compartment with white vinegar. Unfortunately, the homemade stuff doesn't get the dishes as clean or spotless as I'd like, so now I'm adding about a tablespoon of powder detergent (I use Cascade) to the dispenser and then filling it the rest of the way with the homemade detergent, and that's been working well.

Lemme tell ya', my dishes STANK no matter which brand of detergent I used. Imagine how a dog would smell after taking a swim at the Jersey shore during low tide and rinsing off in a stagnant pond full of dead fish. That was how our dishes smelled. Gross!! We tried water filters, water testing, and even ended up buying a new dishwasher, which helped for a short time and then the odor returned. Now that the odor is gone, I can use regular dishwasher detergent once in a while, but if I use it more than a couple of times in a row the odor will return.

The last time I commented (April 18, 2016) was before I moved which I said I would do, and I moved 14 miles west of previous home. Now living in harder water area BUT....I can use my dishwasher with Cascade Platinum pacs, make sure rinse aid is full, and there is NO SMELL. Monthly I run a normal cycle with just AccuFresh dishwasher cleaner tab and it keeps hard water scale from forming. I first went to hot water heater as my culprit and I believe that was the problem. I now live in a new apartment complex (2 years old), and I have my own water heater (separate from furnace) as each unit is self contained. The hard water has a definite impact on how your heater performs (read many previous posts). I wash some things by hand and dry them immediately because the hard water will leave spots if I don't. But I am done with smelly dishes. I give dishes a quick rinse before putting them in dw as I run it only every 4 or 5 days. It doesn't matter if I had protein via eggs, meat, etc. I even put the cat's food dish in there. My water heater is just 2 yrs. old, is efficient and set at 120 degrees. I can have the superintendent drain it, etc., as prescribed. Nothing like hot morning coffee poured into a mug pulled right out of the dw and NO SMELL!!! Good luck, comrades.

Perhaps the problem is not on the glassware but in our own nose. Something in our olfactory system that varies. Sometimes a spouse cannot smell anything wrong with the glassware. That's a clue. Maybe something involving outside air and pollens, etc.

Take the asparagus phenomenon. Turns out that eating asparagus creates a chemical residue in our urine but only some people can smell it as a noxious odor.

Then again, so many people report problems that it probably is something that forms on the dishes under certain conditions.

I too have dishes that smell like worms after using the dishwasher I ran my dishwasher three times with the same dishes in there and they still come out smelling like worms

Add some Clorox or white vinegar to your dishwasher and run the load again in a rinse cycle without detergent to remove the smell. Once the smell gets into the pores of your dishes, this will get rid of it.

I had the same problem, I am a newbie dishwasher owner and one of my good friends told me to use Finish dishwasher pods and from day one the dishwasher smelled like fish or wet dog. Every 2 weeks I would use the Affresh tablets but after the next load the smell would come back. I have since switched to plain old Cascade gel and the smell is gone for good.

I've had the problem of fishy smelling dishes for years. It drove me to tears every day and I was contemplating on moving because of it. I tried everything - taking apart the dishwasher and cleaning every part, running different cycles and combinations, air drying, different detergents, etc. What worked for me is switching to liquid detergent (doesn't matter what brand but not the ones in packets). I haven't had a smell problem in over a year. The problem I face now is that the dishes sometimes come out not perfectly clean (some residue). But, I would rather have to re-wash a dish or two than deal with that smell.

Hi Elena, what brand of liquid detergent did you switch to?

I use Cascade liquid and my smell is gone.

Hi, everyone. I've contributed to this issue since 3/18/16 at least. My last entry on 5/27/17 told you I've moved and have no smelly dishes. But something that I want to share with you that I have tested is what Good Housekeeping specialist on this issue has said and advice I follow:

"To rinse or not to rinse? That is question," says Carolyn Forte, director of the Cleaning Lab at the Good Housekeeping Institute. "And the answer is 'not to rinse.'"

You should always scrape off food scraps before you wash plates, bowls, and utensils, but that's the only step your dishwasher can't handle. Here's why need to back slowly away from the sink:

1. Your dishes need to be dirty for the dishwasher detergent to do its job.

The makers of the dish detergent Cascade discourage customers from pre-washing or rinsing dishes because it actually inhibits the cleaner from working. "Enzymes in Cascade detergent are designed to attach themselves to food particles," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Without food, the enzymes have nothing to latch onto, says P&G."

In other words, your precious detergent just might rinse away before it has time to do anything if your dishes are gunk-free. I know it sounds counter-intuitive and it's hard to break old habits. But this is "dishwasher science". I use Cascade Platinum pacs along with Cascade Rinse Aid and my smelly, stinkin' dishes are no more!

PS to my 5/27/17 comments: when I said "rinse the dishes" I didn't mean rinse them clean, I meant just what falls off under a quick swipe under water (not hot water, by the way). That's my way of "scraping" as described above. Everything else stays on the dishes and sometimes they are in dw for 3 or 4 days before I run it.

I concur with the Cascade for restaurants that someone mentioned above! That for sure gets rid of it, however.... that detergent seems to make my silverware have rust spots on it!! If it's not one thing it's another. I'm definitely on board with the phosphates being taken out and the Cascade with Phosphates Professional Fryer Boil Out definitely works.

If you get this problem still, try closing your windows when you unload the dishwasher. It was the answer for us.

I am on well water as well with all kinds of filters with no windows or doors open, makes no difference. EVERYTHING I have tried makes NO difference, it's awful. My dishwasher is also only 6 days old. So needless to say when I smelled it in the new one yesterday and today my heart broke in two! So depressing :(

Our smell problems went away when we switched to Cascade Complete powder, and did not use too much, just a moderate amount, about half the dispenser on our Bosch.

I have tried so many with my Miele and now again with my new Miele :'( I can't even remember if I tried the Cascade you mention.

We had the same stinky dishes issue with our Kenmore. Around four washes in with our new Whirlpool and the stink was back. Same feelings as Claire, we were crushed. But! Two things we've found to keep it away: 1) make sure to rinse off excess vegetable/olive oil, milk, raw egg, butter before putting the dishes going into the dishwasher 2) use the Finish dishwasher cleaning tablets once every week or two (they come in a 3 pack). Since we've been doing this, our dishes have been stink free. We're using the Finish ultimate tabs and quit using Jet Dry. Even though Jet Dry helps prevent wet dishes, that stuff stinks almost as bad as the wet dog smell.

We've had this issue for years. Dishwasher would every now and again smell like wet dog. We tried everything: vinegar, all different kinds of detergent, jet dry, different cycles, etc, etc. We recently got a brand new dishwasher... same thing. So, we knew it wasn't the dishwasher, it wasn't the detergent, it wasn't the drain tube or the air gap, etc.

You know what seems to cure the problem? Leaving the dishwasher closed for at least an hour or two after the cycle is finished. Since we've been doing this, we've had zero stinky smell.

This problem was solved when we started using Cascade with phosphates. When the irritating do-gooders decided to make that illegal, we used Cascade Fyer Boil Out (which is Cascade with phosphates.) Absolutely NO smell at all, spotless glasses and dishes, and even the interior of the dishwasher looks brand new, and this is a five-year-old machine.

Thanks for this info, blairgirl....I have never heard of this type of Cascade nor about phosphates being removed from regular Cascade. I am going to do some research into this! My only thought is that we have even hand washed our dishes and have STILL had this smell occur. I can't explain that since we didn't use Cascade to hand wash the dishes - we used Dawn. I have always thought that it is an additive "they" started adding to the water (several years ago - when the smell started) that causes this smell when they add it...then it fades away until they add it again. This is my conspiracy theory, lol.

I know this is an old feed but I solved this problem with the advice here. I tried the copper and gel dishwasher detergent (I had been using finish tabs) this made my dishwasher itself smell fresh but the dishes still smelt like fish when the windows were open. I switched to the lemon e cover detergent and voila, no more fish smell!!! Thanks for the advice, so happy to have this problem solved

don't click on any fstarr links - they are posting in many old threads with no real comment, but a live link - spam or malware. Please flag if you see them in other threads, too.

The actual problem is the rinse aid. It leaves a film on the dishes and dishwasher itself and bacteria gets trapped and builds up. You have to soak your dishes in vinegar to get rid of the smell before it can be corrected. It takes a little bit of time and effort but it’s definitely the answer. We’ve been dealing with this issue for years and FINALLY, FINALLY found and followed this advice. We have now corrected the problem.

https://housewifehowtos.com/clean/remove-dishwasher-smells-and-film-from-glass/

Hi, I have been following this thread on and off again over the years. It seems every fall, when we start opening up the windows. With our recent outdoorThanksgiving, it was smelly dish time again. The plates and glassware stank. I agree it is food/ enzymes in the detergent. I am just sharing that a solution I have used recently is it spray everything with window cleaner. After soaking for about a minute or two, rinse and the smell is gone. It worked on everything. The window cleaner I used has ammonia, and I might try some experiments regarding ammonia solutions to remove the smell.

I agree that the smelly problem is also connected with the outdoor air; however, I must also add that the problem can't be totally connected to food/enzymes in the detergent because, when we lived in Nashville, TN - we remodeled our main bathroom and put in a nice, new window so we could open it and get some fresh air...we couldn't even open our old one. Once the remodeling was finished, the first time we used our shower and opened the window, the bathroom started smelling like a old FISH - there was no food in our bathroom. So...our assumption after that was the outside air mixing with the WATER was causing this smelly "fish" problem. When we moved to Maryland...we were visiting our son and he gave us some water in glasses...opened his windows and BAM there was the smelly fish problem again when I picked up the glass to take a drink! Our theory is that there is something being added to the whole country's water supply that is causing this problem once the water comes in contact with the outside air. We currently live in a condo where we don't get much outside air because we have a lobby and we don't open our windows....and we are about 90% free of fishy smell!! I say 90% because the other 10% IS fishy smell which only comes when it is extremely WINDY outside which means the air is coming through our windows and the 1 door we have to our patio. Plus, when it is windy, I put a folded up paper towel on top of my glass of water and that keeps the fish smell out of my glass!

This is an old thread but I solved the problem by switching to Cascade powdered in a box. Not the little packets or gels or liquid or anything. Just the powdered cascade complete in a box. We haven't had the smell since.

Dishwasher hygiene is the main contributor of such foul smell in your dishwasher. But there seems to be other reasons as well. This article from mykitchenapex mentions other reasons such as the foul smell coming from your garbage disposal if you have one or an issue with your air gap and drain hose.