diff --git a/nsq/client.py b/nsq/client.py
index 47bd405..3ea9df3 100644
--- a/nsq/client.py
+++ b/nsq/client.py
@@ -3,15 +3,16 @@
 import time
 import logging
 
-import tornado.ioloop
+from tornado.ioloop import IOLoop, PeriodicCallback
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
 class Client(object):
     def __init__(self, **kwargs):
-        self.io_loop = tornado.ioloop.IOLoop.current()
-        tornado.ioloop.PeriodicCallback(self._check_last_recv_timestamps, 60 * 1000).start()
+        self.io_loop = IOLoop.current()
+        self.periodic_check = PeriodicCallback(self._check_last_recv_timestamps, 60 * 1000)
+        self.periodic_check.start()
 
     def _on_connection_identify(self, conn, data, **kwargs):
         logger.info('[%s:%s] IDENTIFY sent %r' % (conn.id, self.name, data))
@@ -75,3 +76,6 @@ def heartbeat(self, conn):
         :param conn: the :class:`nsq.AsyncConn` over which the heartbeat was received
         """
         pass
+
+    def close(self):
+        self.periodic_check.stop()
diff --git a/nsq/reader.py b/nsq/reader.py
index 0c24245..02bf193 100644
--- a/nsq/reader.py
+++ b/nsq/reader.py
@@ -221,6 +221,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.backoff_block = False
         self.backoff_block_completed = True
 
+        self._closed = False
         self.conns = {}
         self.connection_attempts = {}
         self.http_client = tornado.httpclient.AsyncHTTPClient()
@@ -264,8 +265,10 @@ def _run(self):
 
     def close(self):
         """
-        Closes all connections stops all periodic callbacks
+        Closes all connections and stops all periodic callbacks
         """
+        self._closed = True
+
         for conn in self.conns.values():
             conn.close()
 
@@ -273,6 +276,8 @@ def close(self):
         if self.query_periodic is not None:
             self.query_periodic.stop()
 
+        super(Reader, self).close()
+
     def set_message_handler(self, message_handler):
         """
         Assigns the callback method to be executed for each message received
@@ -494,8 +499,8 @@ def connect_to_nsqd(self, host, port):
         # only attempt to re-connect once every 10s per destination
         # this throttles reconnects to failed endpoints
         now = time.time()
-        last_connect_attempt = self.connection_attempts.get(conn.id)
-        if last_connect_attempt and last_connect_attempt > now - 10:
+        last_connect_attempt = self.connection_attempts.get(conn.id, 0)
+        if last_connect_attempt > now - 10:
             return
         self.connection_attempts[conn.id] = now
 
@@ -559,6 +564,9 @@ def _on_connection_close(self, conn, **kwargs):
             self.io_loop.remove_timeout(conn.rdy_timeout)
             conn.rdy_timeout = None
 
+        if self._closed:
+            return
+
         if not self.lookupd_http_addresses:
             # automatically reconnect to nsqd addresses when not using lookupd
             logger.info('[%s:%s] attempting to reconnect in 15s', conn.id, self.name)
diff --git a/nsq/writer.py b/nsq/writer.py
index bfecbb7..f3a8ad7 100644
--- a/nsq/writer.py
+++ b/nsq/writer.py
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ def __init__(self, nsqd_tcp_addresses, reconnect_interval=15.0, name=None, **kwa
 
         self.name = name or nsqd_tcp_addresses[0]
         self.nsqd_tcp_addresses = nsqd_tcp_addresses
+        self._closed = False
         self.conns = {}
 
         # Verify keyword arguments
@@ -245,6 +246,9 @@ def _on_connection_close(self, conn, **kwargs):
                 logger.exception('[%s] uncaught exception in callback', conn.id)
 
         logger.warning('[%s] connection closed', conn.id)
+        if self._closed:
+            return
+
         logger.info('[%s] attempting to reconnect in %0.2fs', conn.id, self.reconnect_interval)
         reconnect_callback = functools.partial(self.connect_to_nsqd,
                                                host=conn.host, port=conn.port)
@@ -254,3 +258,14 @@ def _finish_pub(self, conn, data, command, topic, msg):
         if isinstance(data, protocol.Error):
             logger.error('[%s] failed to %s (%s, %s), data is %s',
                          conn.id if conn else 'NA', command, topic, msg, data)
+
+    def close(self):
+        """
+        Closes all connections and stops all periodic callbacks
+        """
+        self._closed = True
+
+        for conn in self.conns.values():
+            conn.close()
+
+        super(Writer, self).close()