diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 691669f..cc9148a 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ flexnbd (0.2.0) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
     calculating if a request exceeds the max block size (!45)
   * Added tests for setting TCP_NODELAY on upstream-reconnections in the
     proxy, and refactored the other LD_PRELOAD tests (!43)
+  * Clean up dead threads before calculating the number of connected clients
+    on the status command (!46)
 
  -- James Carter <james.carter@bytemark.co.uk>  Thu, 11 Jan 2018 10:05:35 +0000
 
diff --git a/src/server/serve.c b/src/server/serve.c
index 3a86c3a..b7b8e44 100644
--- a/src/server/serve.c
+++ b/src/server/serve.c
@@ -332,6 +332,8 @@ int server_count_clients( struct server *params )
 {
 	NULLCHECK( params );
 	int i, count = 0;
+	
+	cleanup_client_threads( params->nbd_client, params->max_nbd_clients );
 
 	for ( i = 0 ; i < params->max_nbd_clients ; i++ ) {
 		if ( params->nbd_client[i].thread != 0 ) {
diff --git a/tests/acceptance/test_serve_mode.rb b/tests/acceptance/test_serve_mode.rb
index 6c3e3f6..ddeb836 100644
--- a/tests/acceptance/test_serve_mode.rb
+++ b/tests/acceptance/test_serve_mode.rb
@@ -207,4 +207,17 @@ class TestServeMode < Test::Unit::TestCase
                        'TCP keepalive count not set to 3')
     end
   end
+
+  def test_status_returns_correct_client_count
+    @env.writefile1('0')
+    @env.serve1
+    assert_equal('0', @env.status1['num_clients'])
+    client = FlexNBD::FakeSource.new(@env.ip, @env.port1, 'Connecting to server failed')
+    assert_equal('1', @env.status1['num_clients'])
+    client2 = FlexNBD::FakeSource.new(@env.ip, @env.port1, 'Connecting to server failed')
+    assert_equal('2', @env.status1['num_clients'])
+    client2.close
+    client.close
+    assert_equal('0', @env.status1['num_clients'])
+  end
 end
diff --git a/tests/unit/check_status.c b/tests/unit/check_status.c
index 1daf556..ea89d3b 100644
--- a/tests/unit/check_status.c
+++ b/tests/unit/check_status.c
@@ -105,25 +105,6 @@ START_TEST( test_gets_clients_allowed )
 }
 END_TEST
 
-START_TEST( test_gets_num_clients )
-{
-	struct server * server = mock_server();
-	struct status * status = status_create( server );
-
-	fail_if( status->num_clients != 0, "num_clients was wrong" );
-	status_destroy( status );
-
-	server->nbd_client[0].thread = 1;
-	server->nbd_client[1].thread = 1;
-	status = status_create( server );
-
-	fail_unless( status->num_clients == 2, "num_clients was wrong" );
-	status_destroy( status );
-	destroy_mock_server( server );
-
-}
-END_TEST
-
 START_TEST( test_gets_pid )
 {
 	struct server * server = mock_server();
@@ -357,7 +338,6 @@ Suite *status_suite(void)
 	tcase_add_test(tc_create, test_gets_has_control);
 	tcase_add_test(tc_create, test_gets_is_mirroring);
 	tcase_add_test(tc_create, test_gets_clients_allowed);
-	tcase_add_test(tc_create, test_gets_num_clients);
 	tcase_add_test(tc_create, test_gets_pid);
 	tcase_add_test(tc_create, test_gets_size);
 	tcase_add_test(tc_create, test_gets_migration_statistics);