Saturday, September 20, 2008

Fancy going for fish spa?


The fish spa at Central Market in KL city. Fish spa involved dipping your leg into a pool of Garra Rufa fish. The fish nibble away at your dead skin, allowing healthy skin to grow in its place.


The fish spa at Central Market (CM) KL charge RM5.00 for a 10-minutes fish therapy session.


Look closely, the Garra Rufa fish from Turkey is long and slender and resembled tiny catfish.


Now look closely at the Chin Chin fish from China. It is broader in shape and belongs to the tilapia species.

I saw this aquarium shop at 1 Utama shopping centre which sold the Spa Fish at RM1.00 each. A closer look showed that the fish is broader and believed to be Chin Chin fish (or fake Garra Rufa fish)


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Fish spas are the rage now and can be found all over the places in KL/PJ city, even in KL’s Central Market which charge RM5.00 for a ten-minutes fish therapy session.

The session involved dipping your leg into a pool of fish, known as Garra Rufas which is a member of the carp family and known for its unique abilities to nibble away at your dead skin, allowing healthy and new skin to grow in its place.

These Garra Rufa fish are also known as doctor fish, massage fish, joy fish, nibble fish, Kangal fish and spa fish. The secret of the Garra Rufa lies in their saliva which contains a certain enzyme that is good for the skin. This enzyme helps prevent skin problems.


Don’t you think these fish may actually carry diseases as they move from one person’s leg to another person’s?

I understand that in the United States, they only allow one person at a time to dip his or her leg into the fish pool and they use fresh water after each treatment but here everyone’s legs are dipped into the same pool and God knows how often they change the water!

Now I heard that there are also unscrupulous enterprising people using other type of cheaper version of supposedly spa fish, namely the Chin Chin Fish from China and passed off as the real Garra Rufa fish to unknowledgeable and unsuspecting customers!

So the next time you go for your fish spa, ask to see the fish first. You can check the fish comparison here.

The Chin Chin fish (or fake Garra Rufa fish) is said to have non-effective therapy. This impostor fish mimic the nibbling of the Garra Rufa but do not provide the same medicinal benefits. This fish is more into peeling and not nibbling and could cause unnecessary pain for the body unless baby fish is use. It is a cannibal fish and just eats everything! The bigger fish can bite till bleed!

The Garra Rufa fish from Turkey is toothless, long and slender and resembled tiny catfish whereas the Chin Chin fish which is a tilapia species from China is broader and resembled tiny tilapias.

Those who have tried it said that they felt an itchy sensation initially due to the fish nibbling at their feet but after a while they felt okay. Just like minor electric shock and they felt refreshed after the session.

Well, I would love to try out this fish spa but the thought of seeing those hundreds of fishes nibbling at my legs resembles a piranha attack on me and I remain seemingly helpless!


How the fish spa came about
One day a shepherd (taking care of the sheep) in Kangai, Turkey put his injured leg into a spring where the abundance of Garra Rufa fish (a member of the carp family) nibbled away the damaged skins around the wounds of his leg. Surprisingly the wounds healed soon after and words soon spread around the villages with scores of locals flocking to the springs to try it for their skin diseases.

The secret of the Garra Rufa lies in their saliva which contains a certain enzyme that is good for the skin!

Hotels were built surrounding the springs and they promoted the fish spas to their guests and patients with skin conditions. With the help of internet, news spread quickly and patients from around the world flocked to the spas.

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