diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/protocols/niowrapper/ConnectionHandler.java b/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/protocols/niowrapper/ConnectionHandler.java
index 6a7e1ba9c..d9d0baa24 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/protocols/niowrapper/ConnectionHandler.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/protocols/niowrapper/ConnectionHandler.java
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkState;
 /**
 * A simple connection handler which handles all the business logic of a connection
 */
-class ConnectionHandler extends MessageWriteTarget {
+class ConnectionHandler implements MessageWriteTarget {
     private static final org.slf4j.Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ConnectionHandler.class);
 
     private static final int BUFFER_SIZE_LOWER_BOUND = 4096;
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ class ConnectionHandler extends MessageWriteTarget {
     }
 
     @Override
-    void writeBytes(byte[] message) {
+    public void writeBytes(byte[] message) throws IOException {
         lock.lock();
         try {
             if (channel.write(ByteBuffer.wrap(message)) != message.length)
@@ -65,13 +65,14 @@ class ConnectionHandler extends MessageWriteTarget {
         } catch (IOException e) {
             log.error("Error writing message to connection, closing connection", e);
             closeConnection();
+            throw e;
         } finally {
             lock.unlock();
         }
     }
 
     @Override
-    void closeConnection() {
+    public void closeConnection() {
         try {
             channel.close();
         } catch (IOException e) {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/protocols/niowrapper/MessageWriteTarget.java b/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/protocols/niowrapper/MessageWriteTarget.java
index b3bcba46c..6bee48beb 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/protocols/niowrapper/MessageWriteTarget.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/protocols/niowrapper/MessageWriteTarget.java
@@ -16,10 +16,12 @@
 
 package com.google.bitcoin.protocols.niowrapper;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+
 /**
  * A target to which messages can be written/connection can be closed
  */
-abstract class MessageWriteTarget {
-    abstract void writeBytes(byte[] message);
-    abstract void closeConnection();
+public interface MessageWriteTarget {
+    void writeBytes(byte[] message) throws IOException;
+    void closeConnection();
 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/protocols/niowrapper/NioClient.java b/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/protocols/niowrapper/NioClient.java
index 3a63ee9e7..66652d90f 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/protocols/niowrapper/NioClient.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/protocols/niowrapper/NioClient.java
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkState;
 /**
  * Creates a simple connection to a server using a {@link StreamParser} to process data.
  */
-public class NioClient extends MessageWriteTarget {
+public class NioClient implements MessageWriteTarget {
     private static final org.slf4j.Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(NioClient.class);
 
     private static final int BUFFER_SIZE_LOWER_BOUND = 4096;
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ public class NioClient extends MessageWriteTarget {
 
     // Writes raw bytes to the channel (used by the write method in StreamParser)
     @Override
-    synchronized void writeBytes(byte[] message) {
+    public synchronized void writeBytes(byte[] message) {
         try {
             if (sc.write(ByteBuffer.wrap(message)) != message.length)
                 throw new IOException("Couldn't write all of message to socket");
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/protocols/niowrapper/ProtobufParser.java b/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/protocols/niowrapper/ProtobufParser.java
index ec875b7d7..892bb4b97 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/protocols/niowrapper/ProtobufParser.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/google/bitcoin/protocols/niowrapper/ProtobufParser.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import com.google.bitcoin.core.Utils;
 import com.google.protobuf.ByteString;
 import com.google.protobuf.MessageLite;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import java.nio.ByteOrder;
 
@@ -201,7 +202,11 @@ public class ProtobufParser<MessageType extends MessageLite> extends AbstractTim
         checkState(messageBytes.length <= maxMessageSize);
         byte[] messageLength = new byte[4];
         Utils.uint32ToByteArrayBE(messageBytes.length, messageLength, 0);
-        writeTarget.writeBytes(messageLength);
-        writeTarget.writeBytes(messageBytes);
+        try {
+            writeTarget.writeBytes(messageLength);
+            writeTarget.writeBytes(messageBytes);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            closeConnection();
+        }
     }
 }