Air in seahorse pouch

We got back from a two week vacation and found our male seahorse was having problems.  Looked at him closer and determined he must have air in his pouch since he floats.  I tried to get air out per the instructions on seahorse.org, but have not been able to get it out after 3 different tries.  I tried squeezing it out and teasing the pouch opening open, but no luck.  I have not tried putting a needle in the pouch yet to get the air out, but I am hoping to not have to do that.  I might not be squeezing hard enough, but I it feels like I am squeezing pretty firmly and I don't want to crush him.  Any advice from those that have had to do this? Suzy? Bob?

Thank you,
Andrew

I haven't keep seahorses for many years, but I have had to perform this procedure a couple of times.  I used to use a tooth pick to gently try and open the pouch opening while applying some slight pressure on the pouch to release the air.  If the air pocket returns then I would medicate my seahorse with some antibiotics (I theorized that the bubbles in the pouch were from an infection).

WARNING!

I am not active in the seahorse community and have not been for many years, so there may be better ways then what I used to do.  I now am mostly against any type of medications except in extreme circumstances.

Did you get my PM? I have some cool tools...

Thank you for everyone for the help.  I was finally, fourth try, able to get the air out of his pouch.  Actually there is still a tiny bit in there, but he was getting so stressed and tense that I let him go.  He is able to swim again now, and looks much happier, at least after he was back swimming again for a while.  I ended up running and getting some boby pins which worked great.

I'm glad too.  I felt bad for the little guy, and my wife really felt bad.  She watched as I did it, and she just kept saying things like "poor guy!" because of the discomfort for him taking care of it.  I hope it doesn't happen again, but if it does at least I shouldn't have a problem taking care of it next time after experiencing it and not only reading it.

Suzy,
What type of medication?  Would the medication require taking the seahorse out to a hospital tank?  I really would rather avoid putting him in a hospital tank if I don't need to.  Thanks for your help.

He is still eating.

Wow....I've been off the board for a few. Glad you were able to help him. If I ever have the problem I'll call you. Great job!

He already has it.

They always pout for a bit, but he will get over it!