Peridot Nail Salon in Kent began offering the procedure several weeks ago, with customers paying $30 to have small, toothless carp tickle their toes for 15 minutes.

But the state Department of Licensing decided the procedure was unsanitary and potentially unsafe, and Thursday declared it illegal.

Agency spokeswoman Christine Anthony says state law requires that all implements in pedicures be sanitized, and there's just no way to sanitize live fish.

Fish pedicures created something of a splash in the D.C. area this past summer, where a northern Virginia spa offered similar pedicures. John Ho, who runs the Yvonne Hair and Nails salon with his wife, Yvonne Le, began offering the practice in March and said 5,000 people had taken the plunge as of July.