Jellyfish stings

[Fookhaht]

OK - so I think that I have got it right.

If you get stung by something in the sea you

Pisss on yourself

Pour a bottle of vinegar over yourself

and then, just to make sure,

roll in the local flora.

Does that cover everything?

No.

If none of that works, THEN drag yourself to the clinic. If you're still alive.

[evadgib]

An atomizer (1 litre of vinegar), plastic scrapers & disposable gloves should be the norm when spending time on the beach here. In a 'worst case' scenario a raid on the nearest restaurant for a catering-sized container of tomato sauce or similar will do the trick. Touching or wiping should be discouraged as it makes matters worse.

Atomizers also keep dogs at bay

[limbos]

You may have your head in a book, but I learned directly from the Andaman fishermen, have applied the remedy to myself and others who suffered stings. You should get out of the library and into the real environment.

That being said, I was referring to jellies in general, not specifically the box jelly. Sorry for any ambiguity.

So get your facts straight first. I've seen the results of your proposed action on a box jelly fish sting and it was disastrous.

Edited September 29, 2013 by limbos

[Virt]

Ever since i had an accident with my foot at Chaweng beach maybe 50 meter out at sea in 2011 and went to hospital, i'm always a bit worried when entering the sea.

Has there been any incidents lately or is it still a good idea to pack some vinegar in my beach rucksack just in case?

Or maybe just carry it around if it should happen to someone else.

Coming back in March, but can't seem to find out if those jellyfish has a season or not.

Thanks.

[evadgib]

Dive Supply (300m short of Bkk Samui Hospital on the other side coming from Chaweng Post Office) have neoprene 'carpet slippers' with sturdy soles to minimize the chances of swimmers stubbing their toes or stepping on anything that hurts.

HTH

[Jose]

If these stings were from a bluebottle "jellyfish", then vinegar treatment may make it worse.

Recommended treatment of bluebottle stings.

[Virt]

Dive Supply (300m short of Bkk Samui Hospital on the other side coming from Chaweng Post Office) have neoprene 'carpet slippers' with sturdy soles to minimize the chances of swimmers stubbing their toes or stepping on anything that hurts.

HTH

Yeah i always wear such kind of shoes after 2011.

.

Never found out what happened to me, but it felt like someone shot me with a speargun or drove a knife through my foot, blood pumped out from the side of my foot, and the next 4 hours or so at the hospital it felt like

my lower leg was in flames.

The day after my foot started to swell and i got red markings on numerous places of my foot.

Would be nice to know what actually happened.

Might be a little bit off topic, but hopefully still suits in this thread.

Don't want to end up like this one more time.

[AngThong]

Ever since i had an accident with my foot at Chaweng beach maybe 50 meter out at sea in 2011 and went to hospital, i'm always a bit worried when entering the sea.

Has there been any incidents lately or is it still a good idea to pack some vinegar in my beach rucksack just in case?

Or maybe just carry it around if it should happen to someone else.

Coming back in March, but can't seem to find out if those jellyfish has a season or not.

Thanks.

I believe the *box* jellyfish season is now; they generally live around Australia and Indonesia and have been brought up the Gulf by the monsoon, and stick around for a month or so, before drifting back South in February or so. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if there's always a few around - and I have no idea whether Portuguese Man-O-Wars and other, less venomous types of jellyfish have seasons or not. Pantyhose type stinger suits are sold on Samui for those who are very worried, though you won't win any style points wearing one.

Edited January 29, 2014 by AngThong

[AngThong]

Edited January 29, 2014 by AngThong

[limbos]

The box jelly fish in Thailand don't answer to seasons, unfortunately reports have been made all year round.

[John 1]

Dive Supply (300m short of Bkk Samui Hospital on the other side coming from Chaweng Post Office) have neoprene 'carpet slippers' with sturdy soles to minimize the chances of swimmers stubbing their toes or stepping on anything that hurts.

HTH

Yeah i always wear such kind of shoes after 2011.

.

Never found out what happened to me, but it felt like someone shot me with a speargun or drove a knife through my foot, blood pumped out from the side of my foot, and the next 4 hours or so at the hospital it felt like

my lower leg was in flames.

The day after my foot started to swell and i got red markings on numerous places of my foot.

Would be nice to know what actually happened.

Might be a little bit off topic, but hopefully still suits in this thread.

Don't want to end up like this one more time.

ouch.JPG

You could have stood on a stone fish they are here. A friend stood on one in Darwin Australia I think about 6 spine's went in it nearly killed him his whole leg was swollen 3 times normal size.

[limbos]

A stone fish could be but a scorpion fish is more likely.

[PoorSucker]

A stone fish could be but a scorpion fish is more likely.

Never seen the scorpion fish.

Spotted a stone fish in the reef between Chaweng and Chaweng noi once while snorkeling.

[limbos]

Most people that see a stonefish really see a scorpion fish. Stone fish are extremely difficult to spot and are fairly rare. Scorpion fish are fairly common. In 14 eyars of diving in the Gulf I've seen one stone fish, that happened to be on Chaweng reef in fairly shallow water. On the other hand, I lost count of the amount of scorpionfish I've seen over the years in the Gulf, but also on Chaweng reef and in the sandy parts. Baby ones and sometimes also bigger ones just sit out in the open sand.

[Absolut]

My girlfriend took some photos of this jellyfish washed up on Choeng Mon Beach today...can anyone identify it?

Jellyfish 1

Jellyfish 2

I've spent a lot of time on beaches in Oz, surf patrol when in my 20's, and that jelly fish looks pretty harmless to me. In fact it looks like the kind we used to play with when we were kids. Can't see any tenticles and it's certainly not a blue bottle.

[Tropicalevo]

I was talking to a guest this morning,and he was saying that he was badly stung by a jellyfish in the sea at Choengmon beach on Wednesday.

He described the jellyfish as being round, transluscent/white in colour, the size of a basketball and it had a lot of tentacles about half a meter long.

Luckily the friendly locals sorted out his treatment - helping to remove tenatacles, running into the flora and crushing some leaves to make a poultice. Later they spread some aloe on the stings.

So - be careful in the sea at the moment folks.

[limbos]

The jelly described stings, but is not deadly but it can deal out a severe punch. The 'beach morning glory' variation can possibly be used on these kind of stings, however, this 'beach morning glory' variation should not be used on a box jelly sting, it will make matters worse. Unfortunately I have seen the result of such application to box jelly fish wounds and it's not pretty.

For box jelly fish the use of vinegar is recommended.

[samuijimmy]

Only vinegar station I have seen is on Chawang beach....

It would be easy enough to carry a small bottle of vinegar... just in case.

It is available at all the large grocery stores...(Tesco, Tops, Big C)

[limbos]

Thanks for the post Jimmy, where have you seen this on Chaweng beach?

[samuijimmy]

Thanks for the post Jimmy, where have you seen this on Chaweng beach?

It's the alley way area, just near Centura Grand Hotel, Limbos, .... guess a little bit north (?) .... where they bring in the jet skis .... one of the few public access areas... to the beach..

Here is a picture of the beach morning glory you mentioned above... ^ It varies around the islands where it is found...

This is one part of Maenam beach... but is found else where...

Edited October 13, 2014 by samuijimmy

[limbos]

Thanks Jimmy, much appreciated!

[samuijimmy]

I noticed there is another sign as posted above, ^ near the beach by Lomprayah ferry in Maenam beach the other day.... I checked for the bottle of Vinegar, but there was none there!

Anyone worried about this should probably take a bottle of Vinegar if going to the beach.... although it's a very rare occurrence to run into jelly fish... it's one of those things... you never know!

[Mahdrek]

I'm in khanom and seen a few regular jellyfish while walking along the beach... I haven't swam since which is ugh . Problem here is I'm basically the only one in the water even when it's not jellyfish season so I'm the one to discover anything dangerous... Anyhow I love to swim and was wonder where to buy stinger suits , any links .

Thank you ?

[AngThong]

I'm in khanom and seen a few regular jellyfish while walking along the beach... I haven't swam since which is ugh . Problem here is I'm basically the only one in the water even when it's not jellyfish season so I'm the one to discover anything dangerous... Anyhow I love to swim and was wonder where to buy stinger suits , any links .

Thank you ?

No idea about Khanom but some sailing clubs/bases in Thailand sell them. www.stingersuits.com list Sunsail in Phuket as a reseller and I know for a fact that a club in Bangrak on Samui had them last year, probably still do. I'd get in touch with Sunsail in Phuket and ask them.

http://www.stingersuits.com/international.php

Edited November 6, 2014 by AngThong

[limbos]

Most dive equipment retailers have full 1mm or 0.5mm body suits that will do the job as well.

[Virt]

Just talked to an australian couple,and they said a man today at lamai beach was stung by some sort of jellyfish. Sounded like he was in a big pain and had clearly marks from the tenticles on his legs.

Hope he is ok and recover fast.

[limbos]

Any additional information you can gather and share with me is much appreciated.

[Gulfsailor]

Went swimming with my daughter and a friend at Chaweng today. My daughter suddenly yelped and her face turned rather sour. She said a long transparent thing just swept over her arm. A few seconds later she started wining that it hurt like hell. No one on the beach had vinegar, so I soaked it with fresh water and used a credit card to scrape the jelly and stings off. After about 10 minutes she was ok again and we returned swimming. Albeit in a different spot.

[limbos]

Gulfsialor, that was the correct procedure, but I don't think this involved a box jellyfish. Can you describe where on Chaweng beach this occurred, in front of which hotel? Did you check with the hotel(s) if they had vinegar available?

I'm very interested to find out, since I'm trying to have hotels around the island to put up vinegar posts!

Edited August 1, 2015 by limbos

[Gulfsailor]

Gulfsialor, that was the correct procedure, but I don't think this involved a box jellyfish. Can you describe where on Chaweng beach this occurred, in front of which hotel? Did you check with the hotel(s) if they had vinegar available?

I'm very interested to find out, since I'm trying to have hotels around the island to put up vinegar posts!

It was next to Monkey bay. Didn't bother to ask Ozo or Monkey Bay for vinegar, but the play area guys and jet ski guys didn't have vinegar. The sailboat/SUP rental place advised to do the creditcard method.

I don't think it was a particular nasty jellyfish, as after 10 minutes she was ok again to go into the water.