Man O Wars today at Kamaole II

[divebri]

in Wailea, on the beach by the Grand Wailea. They absolutely PUNISHED a little kid that got tangled up with them, and mom decided to dunk the kid in the pool (cool, fresh water, ugh!) because he was screaming so much.

Just for the sake of argument (or to clarify and provoke discussion, to the more rose-colored crowd): Isn't the new treatment for man o'wars to remove the tentacles and douse with VERY HOT water, like, hotter than a jacuzzi?
I was led to understand that the vinegar rinse doesn't work on man o'wars.

 

[KrisB]

in Wailea, on the beach by the Grand Wailea. They absolutely PUNISHED a little kid that got tangled up with them, and mom decided to dunk the kid in the pool (cool, fresh water, ugh!) because he was screaming so much.

Just for the sake of argument (or to clarify and provoke discussion, to the more rose-colored crowd): Isn't the new treatment for man o'wars to remove the tentacles and douse with VERY HOT water, like, hotter than a jacuzzi?
I was led to understand that the vinegar rinse doesn't work on man o'wars.

That is correct, divebri.

Current recommendation in the DAN First Aid for Hazardous Marine Life Injuries course is to remove tentacles with tweezers, soak in as-hot-as-you-can-without-scalding *salt* water for 30-90 minutes, then shave the area.

Vinegar is contraindicated (as are other "chemical" neutralization techniques, including but not limited to meat tenderizer, uric acid, ammonia, papaya juice) for Man-of-War stings, though is still considered a viable treatment for true *box* jellyfish stings. They *may* be effective (or may also increase reaction) against other types of jellyfish stings. When in doubt, don't use it.

The age old joke / wife's tale about urine is part true for jellyfish (especially box jellyfish) stings -- if it's acidic enough, the uric acid may neutralize the nematocysts. It also represents a source of warm, clean salty water (well, liquid). In areas of the world where clean water is not easily available, irrigating a wound with urine may be preferable to potential contamination from untreated water sources.

 

[justleesa]

Interesting stuff on Jellies guys, thanks for sharing!

 

[smellzlikefish]

"Just for the sake of argument (or to clarify and provoke discussion, to the more rose-colored crowd): Isn't the new treatment for man o'wars to remove the tentacles and douse with VERY HOT water, like, hotter than a jacuzzi?
I was led to understand that the vinegar rinse doesn't work on man o'wars."

The proper first aid for jellyfish and/or man o war is vinegar and meat tenderizer to denature the toxins. For fish stings, including stingrays, scorpionfish, etc., use water that is hot enough that you can barely stand it without scalding.

They are everywhere right now. We were just outside of the sandbar in Kaneohe Bay this past week watching them drift by 5 at a time. I was tow boarding and got a tentacle wrapped across my upper lip, cheek, and chin. I've been nursing/scratching those welts since. Another in our group got one down her wetsuit!

 

[Hank49]

They seem to come in waves in Hawaii. If you see one, there'll likely be more. I've been stung at least 10 times. The worst I got was at Rock Quarry, on the north shore of Kauai. One wrapped around my thigh and later my lymph glands in my crotch were throbbing.
The REAL Man-o Wars are here in the Caribbean. Just saw one a couple weeks ago near one of my favorite spots...the "sail" was 6 inches long. nasty.

 

[KrisB]

The proper first aid for jellyfish and/or man o war is vinegar and meat tenderizer to denature the toxins. For fish stings, including stingrays, scorpionfish, etc., use water that is hot enough that you can barely stand it without scalding.

They are everywhere right now. We were just outside of the sandbar in Kaneohe Bay this past week watching them drift by 5 at a time. I was tow boarding and got a tentacle wrapped across my upper lip, cheek, and chin. I've been nursing/scratching those welts since. Another in our group got one down her wetsuit!

Incorrect. See above post.

Vinegar = BAD news for MoW stings, as is meat tenderizer as it can trigger those nematocysts.

 

[Scubaman7596]

We where dodgeing them at cup coral cathedral on kauai in the middle of last month. I got some pretty good pictures as they where right in our faces. Got a couple good stings too. Probabley the 3rd time I have seen the man o wars in Hawaii. Defintely the most I have ever seen. I try to upload the pictures in the next few days. didnt put anything on them stinging went away in about 20 minutes but area was a little tender for about a day. Getiing back in the salt water for the 2nd tank. I either was focusing on my customers or it helped the stings as i didn't notice tenderness till i got back out.

 

[divebri]

and MAN, was it brutal. I never saw the tentacle, obviously, but it wrapped around my ankle. I got it off, poured real hot water over it (but it was fresh, which is the best I could do) and then shaved it and washed it well.

It took a long, long time for it to stop itching, like three weeks or more. And as far as healing, around a month, total, mostly because I kept scratching it.

Not real painful, just a pain, if you know what I mean.

I would learn about MOW stings - they ARE different in treatment than box or other jellyfish. If you're in HI when there's a migration and you're around the ocean, someone around you will get hit.

 

[DiveWestOahu]

over 2000 found at hanauma bay today causing a closure of the beach

 

[smellzlikefish]

Kris-I was just relaying what I learned in NOAA training and from UH dive office training. The world seems to be rather wishy washy on proper treatment with no one has offered a solution that everyone can agree on. It seems no matter what you do, it will hurt like hell for a bit, then a day later you might get little itchy bumps.