Metal Halide burnt??

I'm just wondering if this is normal wear and tear for a metal halide??

I had it on without the fan for about a half hour and then noticed this.

I hope I don't need to buy a new bulb

The only reason I ask is that the light is starting to flicker which it wasn't doing before...

This could also be the ballast going bad.

Thanks for the response Tommy... so you are saying that it shouldn't look like that with the brown spots?

Bump..... is my bulb toast??

Sorry if it's a dumb question...

I have seen dark gray spots at both ends of the electrodes but not like what you have there. It should only flicker when the bulb is warming up, after five minutes it should not flicker. What you need to sort out is if it is a bad bulb or something in the ballast that is causing the bulb to fail.