Transparent spots on red mushrooms

Question
I have transparent spots on my red mushrooms. The ones on top of my aquariums seems to have more. It is a 50 gallon aquarium and I have about 25 to 30 mushrooms. The seem healthy. They open very wide during the day and shrink at night. Is this something I should be concerned with. Thank You.

Answer
Hi Hugo. I am interested in what kind of lighting you may have. It would seem to me that if the ones at the top are the ones primarily effected that it could be a problem with lighting. Mushrooms do not respond well to intense lighting or strong currents. In fact, florescent lights and low currents seem to allow for maximal expansion and reproduction. If keeping these corals in a brightly lit tank, it is best to place low in the tank or under overhangs in the rockwork. Otherwise their colors seem to fade as the zooxanthellae algae overwhelm the natural pigments. Bleaching may also be a problem here. Bleaching is defined as the mass expulsion of zooxanthellae or their pigments from the coral, which typically appears white or abnormally light in color. There are many causes of bleaching and a few are; chemicals, darkness, heavy metals, higher temp., salinity too high or too low, medications, physical stress, too much red spectral light, starvation, stress and drastic temperature change. some studies suggest that the dosing of iodine directly on the polyps may also have an adverse effect. If there are only a few affected and it does not seem to be having an effect on their expansion then they are probably fine. However if you notice the spots getting bigger or occurring on more of the mushrooms you may have to do some investigative work to find the exact source of the problem.