Symptoms include severe shooting pain described as a shocklike sensation, and intense joint and muscle pain. Pain may be accompanied by headaches, shock, collapse, faintness, hysteria, chills, fever, nausea and vomiting. Initial contact with Physalia may result in only a small number of stings. However, efforts to escape from the tentacles may further discharge nematocysts and intensify stings. Care should be taken when removing the adhering tentacles.
Severe stings can occur even when the animal is beached or dead.
Treatment of Sting Primary first aid for any jellyfish sting should be to minimize the number of nematocysts discharging into the skin and to reduce the harmful effects of the venom. If stung by a jellyfish, the victim should carefully remove the tentacles that adhere to the skin by using sand, clothing, towels, seaweed or other available materials. As long as tentacles remain on the skin, they will continue to discharge venom. A variety of substances have been used to reduce the effects of jellyfish stings. Meat tenderizer, sugar, vinegar, plant juices and sodium bicarbonate have all been used with varying degrees of success.