Help! Ventralis Anthias has scale damage

[ianryd]

I picked up this ventralis anthias from my LFS yesterday. It's been there for over two months, eating like a pig, with no signs of diseases. I skipped QT and put it in an acclimation box in my DT. Today I noticed a diagonal white stripe on each side of its body, of what seems to be damaged scales. It's hard to tell since the scales are so small, but they do seem to be lifting a little. The markings are almost symmetrical. It is eating just fine. No other fish show any similar signs. What could this be? I have a QT set up if I need to remove the fish.

 

[ianryd]

I was just thinking, at the LFS he was hiding in a tight space in a rock. Maybe he got scratched on both sides as he was coming out. Would it be normal for the scratches to take a day to show up?

 

[ianryd]

Bump, it it worse this morning. the scales are definitely lifting, and the area is spreading wider. Does anybody have ANY ideas?