What is causing this leaf damage?
 

Hello everyone,

I am having some trouble with some phal leaves. They have damage on the new leaves thar are appearing. I do not see any damage on the older leaves of the plant but the new ones are clearly damaged. I suspect some bugs, maybe thrips? I’ve not seen this before on my plants so not sure what it causes it to know what to do for treatment. I looked for any bugs on the plant but only spotted an ant on it. I am however ordering a magnifying glass too because maybe I just don’s see them. Thank you!

Is the orchid grown indoors or outdoors? If possible - could load up the pics with a larger image size - in order get a better view of the damaged regions. At the moment, I can see either trench or ridges, and underneath the leaves ---- maybe divots.

If no activity is seen in the day time, then maybe need to catch them in that act at night time ------ assuming animal activity of some sort that is.

They are grown on a screened porch. I have a few little frogs and a few tiny lizards, but they have been milling about forever and never damaged any of the plants. This one is new though so I think it came with some creepy crawleys attached. The damage is weird because it initially looks like clear bumpy tissue but then turns brown. It does not seem to expand after the initial damage. I will see what I can do about better pics - they are actually really large and have great resolution but once I attach them something just goes wrong and they lose all that :( I’m posting on my I-pad so maybe will do it from my laptop to see if that helps. Thank you!

It doesn't look like thrips - they are tiny, more likely to damage flowers. Especially if it is a new plant, be sure to keep it away from your others! I suspect something like bush snails that live down in the medium. They are too small to eat through leaves but can eat the surface layers. If you see anything that looks like tiny flying saucers (1/4 to 1/2 cm or so) on the top of the medum (or seen at night) that would be them...

Put a letuce leaf on top of the medium and check it at night.
Snails can be really tiny but, looking at the "trail" width on the leaves, they will be easily seen.
If their existence is confirmed, water with coffee diluted in the water (2 or 3 expressos in one liter of water).

At first I thought it could be hail damage. Small hail can cause ‘bruises’ like this. But you said that they are in a screened in porch. And the second picture looks like snail or slug damage. Check for the slime trail. Snails/slugs will eat the inter parts of the leaves, usually never the edges. They can bring bacteria and fungus with them. That could explain the strange browning of the injured areas. The others have given you good advice on controlling these pest. Good luck with this.

Why not unpot and see what's going on?