Can't Get Fish Oil Smell Out of Clothing!

We have done fish oil spills as well as many other kinds of food spills. Bac-out has usually worked well for us, but only after leaving it on for a really long time (at least a day) so it has time to eat everything up. If it's not gone after a day, spray it again and give it another day. Good luck!

Never found a way to get the fish oil out of my son's clothes, but we did switch to a gummy fish oil pill and now we don't have to deal with the problem. Nordic Omega-3 Gummies. My kids love them like candy.

Go to an industrial cleaning supply place andGet an enzyme. I once spilled a GALLON of fish fertilizer in my house and found this stuff called Viafresh at a janitorial supply store. It eats anything human or animal (milk, vomit, blood, urine, fish, etc). When I mentioned regular store products like febreeze or pet sprays to them, they laughed. Truly, the real stuff makes all those seem like a joke.

Anyway, I've used it in my laundry for vomit and other things many times since.

Good luck.

I don't have any suggestions about how to get the smell out, but thought I'd suggest using lemon flavored fish oil. We use the Carlson brand with lemon flavor, and it hardly tastes fishy at all. Not sure how it would translate into smelliness on clothes, but it's worth a try. Might eliminate this problem in the future.

I have had to give my son fish oil for some time, so I know what you mean! The flavor goes away quickly, but the fishy smell remains. My only solution was to wash the things over and over again and ignore the smell, and eventually it did go away.

Something that may or may not have helped: since fish oil is oil, and since Dawn dish soap cuts grease like nothing else, I sometimes would put a squirt of Dawn in the load and rinse twice. This wasn't a quick fix, but if you just keep washing the clothes every time you do laundry, the smell will go away.

Also, try holding a paper towel under the chin to catch drips--you can then throw it away! It might help a bit.

I have upon occassion thrown jeans in the wash with fish oil gel-caps in the pockets...mistake. The smell will eventually go away after about 1000 washes. Whenever I get desparate to remove the smell of something quickly, I use vinegar in the wash.

Hi D.,
I work in Theatre and to keep the costumes smelling fresh, we spray vodka on them. It also kills bacteria. You could try it and see, fish is pretty strong.

Addition: Peg suggested Citri-solve which reminded me of a cleaner that sounds very similar. It's called citrus cleaner and degreaser made by the brand name Zep. I purchased it at Fred Meyer. I use it to clean greasy cabinets and to remove the gunk that price stickers sometimes leave. Citrus does remove fish odors from our hands and so this may work on clothes too. My 32 oz. spray bottle has lasted years. Unfortunately the Directions for use label is gone. It's orange in color.

I've also used De-Solv-it Citrus Solutions that I purchased at Target. This bottle still has directions on it and says that it can be used on washable fabrics except for silk and leather. It specifically states it's for use on fish and onion odors. It's 100% organic and biodegradable. It's clear in color.

I have used both brands and they both work equally well for removing greasy and sticky stuff.

original message:
I looked on the Internet and found this site on which other people asked the same question. There are many of the same suggestions but also some new ones.

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf789978.tip.html

And here's a site that sells a product "guaranteed" to work.
I haven't tried it.

http://www.southernoutdoorproducts.com/fish-off/index.htm

Two things: One use lemon right away to get the smell out and wash it off quickly. The other see if someone is going to Europe. Ask them to bring back Galle Seife. Gall bladder soap. It comes in a cake. It will take out every kind of stain it is applied to even old ones.

I have no experience with fish oil but I do know that the Spray and Wash stain stick will remove oil from clothing even if you've washed it once before. We saturate the oil stain with stain stick on both sides of the fabric and then let it sit for 24 hours. Wash at normal temps and the shirt has been rescued.

If anyone has a surefire way, I'd love to hear it. I lived with a fishing guide for 2 years, and dang. To this day I treat fish oil like it's a strong acid, or toxic chemical... because once absorbed there was NOTHING that I used that got it 100% out. Fish oil is pervasive.

The best thing I could do was to soak the offending article in a bucket of pure lemon juice (pricey, and only if some rubbed off on accident onto something of mine that wasn't fishing clothes) and then to wash it with dish detergent (since dish detergent is designed to break up and unbond grease and oils. Crushed up vitamin C mixed with water would help to some degree as well. Both lemon juice and vitC fade clothes, and dish detergent will destroy them with repeated use.

I haven't seen this suggestion yet:

Citra-Solve is a naturally-derived solved (obtained from citrus peels, I believe) that has a strong but pleasant orangey scent, and is safe to use where industrial solvents are not. See http://www.ecocern.ca/Citri-Solve_Page.htm for the specifics.

Because it's a solvent, it will thin and remove heavy oils (and a surprisingly long list of other "impossible" stains). Then whatever solvent residue remains launders out easily.

If you try this, test a hidden area of the shirt first to be sure you won't fade the color, then put a pad of some absorbent rags or paper towels underneath the fishy spot and blot a solvent-saturated cloth on the stain. Reapply a couple of times while refreshing/turning the absorbent pad so the solvent always flows through and away from the shirt. More than one treatment may be needed for such a strong smell, but you'll probably notice an amazing improvement after one treatment.

It's a good idea to use in a well-ventilated area and to wear rubber gloves, because the solvent also strips natural oils from your skin and leaves your fingers very dry. You could also absorb some through your skin. It's "nontoxic," but exposure to anything in concentrated amounts could be harmful (I recently learned that an acquaintance pretty much ruined her lungs using a "natural" pine cleaner in an enclosed space.)

I've had a half-gallon jug of Citra-Solve that's lasted for years. It has worked cleaning a few things that I thought were goners, though I only use it as a last resort. Haven't tried it on fish oil, so if you do give it a go, there will be lots of mamas here who'd appreciate a follow-up report from you if it works.

You can get this probuct through Amazon.com, and I believe also Gaiam.com, in various sizes.

My husband works in septic systems and one of the things he does is deal with used fry-oil tanks at restaurants...

We use Borax in almost every load of laundry and it gets the smell out of most things.

Good luck.

since it's an oil, have you tried dawn dish soap? i use it for oil stains on our clothing and it works great. good luck

It has been my experience that you can't get that smell out of anything. One of my dogs got a hold of a bottle of fish oil and it got all over my couch and the blanket that was covering the couch. We tried in vain to get it out of the blanket that was covering the couch but eventually had to just throw it out. It does not matter what you wash with or how many times you wash it............ it is inpossible to get that horendous smell out. SORRY

I think the poster who suggested getting an enzyme cleaner is the most likely. Non-chlorine bleach (like biz) that has "enzymes" or something with an -ase or -ese ending (how enzymes are named) is a cheap way to get it. The other thing I have had good luck with is "Natures Miracle." It is meant for removing pet stains and actually works on cat urine for the same reasons as the non-chlorine bleach. With the Nature's Miracle I would apply it directly on the stain instead of putting whatever amount they suggest in the washer..

Good luck!

I've never tried it but have heard that oven cleaner gets out those impossible grease stains from clothes, it may work on this too.

OMG, I am dealing with this right now too. My kids take the fish oil, with a little lemon scent. It was spilled and the towel used to wipe it up ended up in the wash, and the dryer. Loads after loads are smelling fishy. I cleaned out the washer and the dryer. I think it is now in my dryer. Can't get it out. I will try some of the stuff people have suggested. I just wanted to thank you for the post. I think I am pretty much out of luck! Oh well.