I can’t have my pot and kettle at work, so I have to make do with tea bags from the break room. I don’t keep milk at work, so I use the creamer. (I think it’s Coffee Mate, but I’m not sure.) I put some creamer and some sugar in a cup, and then add some hot water to dissolve it. It smells like fish. Not like cooked fish, but more like raw fish.
Why?
That is odd. It shouldn’t smell like fish, since it’s made of peeeeop-uuuuhhl!
Tabby
I have noticed the same thing; i think you are (indeed0 smelling fish oil, most likely extracted from menhaded or herring fish. the reason is; artificial creamer is made with an edible oil base-food processors use a wide variety of edible oils in processed foods(olive, peanut, cottonseed, safflower, corn, soybean, and fish-derived opils). They probably buy whatever oil is cheapest, and blends containing fish oils are probably the lowest cost. still, you are probably getting Omega II oils (good for your heart)?
OK, there is no way they are using fish oils. They are expensive, unstable, and not friendly for vegitarians/vegans. If they were using fish oils, the ingredient statement would state clearly that they are and which species is the source.
But…the oils they are using apparently have some shorter chain fatty acids similar to those found in fish oils, probably from soybeans. Is this liquid creamer or powdered creamer? If it is a powder, it is probably oxidized, especially if it has been around a while. Get a new, small container, always close it tightly, and store it in the frige. If it is liquid, I’d suspect bacterial contamination and throw it away.
It’s also possible the oil they used to make it has gone rancid. Sadly, with the work I do, I have to smell (and investigate. It’s not just smelling!) food products that people send in. I notice that a lot of the time, people say that something smells like fish when the oil in it has spoiled. Fun fact: It can also smell like old peanuts! I hate my job!
Seriously though, if it smells different than it usually does, don’t use it. That’s pretty much a good rule of thumb for any food product, and if it really is rancid, it has the potential to give you an interesting case of the runs.
(On preview, what xbuckeye said. I’m not sure if oxidation of oil is the same as rancidity, but in the long run, it’s the same for eating.)
Well, slap my face and call me Charlotte, it is the same thing. Thanks, xbuckeye, you’ve indirectly taught me something today!
Aww shucks…t’wern’t nuthin’!
See kids, this is why you should stay in school.
Charlotte 
, what exactly do you do? Sounds like fun!
They run through the ol’ Coffee Mate at a pretty good clip, and I’ve noticed the smell for a while now. So different containers, and the supply is regularly replaced.
The smell goes away when the tea is brewed.
You’d think that, wouldn’t you? 
I work in the consumer affairs department of a food company. When something gross happens to one of our products, people send it in, and I get to go to town figuring out what it is and whose fault it was. Then I get to blame a factory for it!
The downside is, I also have to answer the phone about people complaining about said nastiness in food. I wish I could say I was a food scientist or something cool, but I’m really just a glorified phone jockey. Still, it’s better than my stint in a maternity store when I wasn’t pregnant!
And Johnny L.A. , I suppose if it happens fresh out of the container, it might not be rancidity. You should call the company and ask. They probably get that question all the time, and have a very quick answer. I, however, do not. Wrong food for me. Sounds delicious, though. Have you thought about reconsidering bringing your own milk? Or buying individual cups of liquid creamer? The fishiness would really put me off my tea, even if it went away when it was added. I keep my own teabags and creamer at my desk for this very reason.