Seahorse with white lumps/bouyancy issue

[Zoner]

One of the male erectus seahorses in my bachelor tank has developed white lumps below and to the side of his pouch on his tail. Around the same time these presented his pouch began bloating (not much bigger than I normally see when I have to burp one of them) and his tail has become a bit puffy all the way down to the tip. I've tried pouch evacuations and have not been able to get any gasses out. He's still got an appetite and is relatively active, but every time he unhitches he bobs straight up to the surface and really struggles to descend again. I've included pictures below of the lumps (apologies for the poor quality, he'd managed to hitch again for the night and I didn't want to disturb him).

I initially thought that it might be internal GBD, but the white lumps have me thinking that it might be some kind of bacterial infection. Does anyone have any ideas of what this might be? I'd love to start treatment but I'm not sure what exactly I should be treating for and don't want to cause any additional stress to him.

Lumps with his dorsal side facing the camera

Little bit closer on the lumps

 

[rayjay]

I find it hard to tell anything by the pictures, but I suspect you are dealing with two separate problems.
I've had many times problems getting all the bubbles out of pouches so that floating doesn't occur and think you just haven't been able to fully degas the pouch yet.
The other spots may be bacteria related also.
In any case, without being able to be more positive about the diagnosis I'd be putting it in a ten gallon hospital tank and treating with diamox and with Furan II and use heavy aeration, with 50 percent water changes daily.
You could use some Cloram X or similar product to control any residual ammonia.

 

[Zoner]

After re-examining him a bit more thoroughly this morning, it looks like the majority of the bloating is not actually in his pouch area, it's more beneath it around and under the area where the white lumps are. Whenever he floats to the surface it's this area of his body that's the highest point. This is leadig me to believe that the bloating is probably due to whatever infection is causing the lumps and that it's subcutaneous rather than within his pouch.

Thanks for the feedback rayjay, much appreciated!

 

[Zoner]

Update: I've moved him to a quarantine tank and begun treatment with Furan II and regular water changes. He looks absolutely pathetic floating at the surface, but is still eating like a champion and snicking every bit of mysis I put in front of him. Below is a clearer pics of the affected area (apologies, not the most pleasant thing to look at). It looks like it's unfortunately progressed pretty rapidly from the previous pics.

 

[rayjay]

I would also be dosing with the Diamox just in cast there is a chemical imbalance.