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Thread: What fishes are used in fish therapy?

  1. #1
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    What fishes are used in fish therapy?

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    Hi,

    anyone knows what is the fish use for therapy? Looks like some sort of pleco..

    Thanks

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    Probably Garra rufa. The other fish would be Cyprinion macrostomus.

    See Wikipedia, Doctor fish, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_fish (as of Jan. 3, 2008, 16:40 GMT).

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    Smile The Garras at AquaStar

    Folks! I just went to AquaStar a few days ago and bought myself 10 Doctor Fishes. I won't call them Garra Rufas simply because they are not but rather a close cousin of theirs(I'm still trying to ID them via photos on the net). Garra Rufas are supposed to be reddish brown in colour (judging from the photos on the net) and the ones sold at AquaStar are more towards the grey side with some even spotting a horizontal line across their bodies. But hey, they do the exact same thing in the sense that they will come towards me the minute I put my hands into their tank and start to nibble like crazy!

    I've tried to find some articles on whether the rest of the Garra family can do the same thing as their Turkish cousin but somehow not much luck on that.

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    Garra sp. with a horizontal stripe is most definitely something else. They are hard to identify in the first place, so I think for any promotions of Garra spp., they could be conveniently labelled as Doctor fish.

    I do believe that most Garra spp. share the same behaviour of nibbling your hand. Someone here did mention that G. flavatra did the same thing.

    However, it seems like the work of G. rufa alone does not cure Psoriasis. This article specified five factors on the recovery:

    1. The physical contact of doctor fish, 4 to 8 hours decapitage of squams by fish.
    2. The effect of selenium that spa has
    3. The direct effect of natural ultraviolet radiation thanks to the high altitude (1650 mt.)
    4. Jacuzzi effect of the pools since the source of spa is spreaded at the base of the each pool.
    5. Reverse Koebner phenomenon

    I am leaning towards the belief that there are some other factors (beside the fish) that is helping in the cure, so without the proper conditions, the fish alone isn't the answer.

    To the point of going off track, here is an interesting scientific study on the treatment of Psoriasis.
    Ichthyotherapy as Alternative Treatment for Patients with Psoriasis: A Pilot Study. M Grassberger, W Hoch - Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2006.

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    Quixotic hit the nail on the head on that one! The ones I bought is definitely not the Garra Rufas of Turkey but rather distant cousins trained in the same school of "nibbling":P

    Stephen you might wanna ask yourself the purpose of buying/keeping the fishes. If it is to cure Psoriasis, then like what Quixotic said, has a lot of factors contributing to the "cure" with the fish being one of them only. We need to recreate the same water conditions with the fish to achieve the effect. However if you wanna keep the fish coz they're so darn cute and friendly, nibbling at you instead of hiding under rocks or plants, then you don't really need the REAL GRs to do the job in the first place!

    By the way Quixotic, did you manage to find any proof that the GRs secrete dithranol or is it still a marketing hype?:P If it is really true, then perhaps the rest of the Garra spp might have the same property?

    Here's an article sent to me by a GR seller in Malaysia...don't know how true the last bit is about the ChinChins...so take it with a pinch of salt ya?

    http://www.slipperylittlesuckers.com...t_from=&ucat=4&
    Last edited by vstudio; 22nd Mar 2008 at 12:14.

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    As for Cyprinion macrostomus, it is so hard to even find a closeup picture of it on the net! I guess the GRs stole the limelight lah...:P

    Don't think anyone is selling it here though it would be interesting to keep one too! :P
    Last edited by Quixotic; 23rd Mar 2008 at 03:33. Reason: Formatting

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    Well, I have done some look ups and it is looking a lot like marketing hype. I did not find a single scientific related website mention G. rufa being able to secret Dithranol. No surprise that the websites that promote this are the commercial ones promoting packages to cure Psoriasis.

    Besides, look up the Dithranol entry in Wikipedia and you will find the other name for it, Anthralin. Now, cross reference Anthralin in Google and you will come across this webpage of the National Psoriasis Foundation (USA), http://www.psoriasis.org/treatment/p.../anthralin.php, which says:
    Anthralin is a synthetic substitute for chrysarobin, found in Goa powder from the bark of the araroba tree of South America. This substance has been used to treat psoriasis for more than 100 years.
    How G. rufa can produce something synthetic is beyond me.

    Edit: Oh, and this is what the entry in German Wikipedia (translated via Babelfish) has to say (See Wikipedia, Rötliche Saugbarbe, http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=R%C3%B6tliche_Saugbarbe&oldid=40708653 (as of Mar. 25, 2008, 17:18 GMT)):
    Reports, in which by the isolation of a Dithranol haltigen secretion by the fish one reports, are unfounded, since it concerns with Dithranol a synthetically manufactured substance, which is used as medicine in the medicine against Psoriasis. Improbable are also reports, after which when "nibbling" the fish at the human skin saliva is injected into the skin.
    Last edited by Quixotic; 26th Mar 2008 at 01:21. Reason: Additional information

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    Wow bro Quixotic! Nice sleuth job!!

    So since there is no scientific evidence of the Garra Rufa having curative powers, it is downright crazy to pay $10-20 bucks for just one of them, isn't it?:P I mean ya they're Turkish but so?:P

    To just get the same nibbling sensation, might as well get the other Garra species (priced at $1.50) which does the same job at the same price regardless of the fish size.

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