diff --git a/providers/providers.go b/providers/providers.go
index c6ab64ce0..6d77f989f 100644
--- a/providers/providers.go
+++ b/providers/providers.go
@@ -182,8 +182,12 @@ func (pm *ProviderManager) addProv(k cid.Cid, p peer.ID) error {
 	return writeProviderEntry(pm.dstore, k, p, now)
 }
 
+func mkProvKeyFor(k cid.Cid, p peer.ID) string {
+	return mkProvKey(k) + "/" + base32.RawStdEncoding.EncodeToString([]byte(p))
+}
+
 func writeProviderEntry(dstore ds.Datastore, k cid.Cid, p peer.ID, t time.Time) error {
-	dsk := mkProvKey(k) + "/" + base32.RawStdEncoding.EncodeToString([]byte(p))
+	dsk := mkProvKeyFor(k, p)
 
 	buf := make([]byte, 16)
 	n := binary.PutVarint(buf, t.UnixNano())
@@ -191,49 +195,25 @@ func writeProviderEntry(dstore ds.Datastore, k cid.Cid, p peer.ID, t time.Time)
 	return dstore.Put(ds.NewKey(dsk), buf[:n])
 }
 
-func (pm *ProviderManager) gc() {
-	res, err := pm.dstore.Query(dsq.Query{
-		Prefix: providersKeyPrefix,
-	})
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Error("error garbage collecting provider records: ", err)
-		return
-	}
-	defer res.Close()
-
-	now := time.Now()
-	for {
-		e, ok := res.NextSync()
-		if !ok {
-			return
-		}
-
-		if e.Error != nil {
-			log.Error("got an error: ", e.Error)
-			continue
+func (pm *ProviderManager) run(proc goprocess.Process) {
+	var (
+		gcQuery    dsq.Results
+		gcQueryRes <-chan dsq.Result
+		gcSkip     map[string]struct{}
+		gcTime     time.Time
+		gcTimer    = time.NewTimer(pm.cleanupInterval)
+	)
+
+	defer func() {
+		gcTimer.Stop()
+		if gcQuery != nil {
+			// don't really care if this fails.
+			_ = gcQuery.Close()
 		}
-
-		// check expiration time
-		t, err := readTimeValue(e.Value)
-		switch {
-		case err != nil:
-			// couldn't parse the time
-			log.Warning("parsing providers record from disk: ", err)
-			fallthrough
-		case now.Sub(t) > ProvideValidity:
-			// or just expired
-			err = pm.dstore.Delete(ds.RawKey(e.Key))
-			if err != nil {
-				log.Warning("failed to remove provider record from disk: ", err)
-			}
+		if err := pm.dstore.Flush(); err != nil {
+			log.Error("failed to flush datastore: ", err)
 		}
-	}
-}
-
-func (pm *ProviderManager) run(proc goprocess.Process) {
-	tick := time.NewTicker(pm.cleanupInterval)
-	defer tick.Stop()
-	defer pm.dstore.Flush()
+	}()
 
 	for {
 		select {
@@ -241,6 +221,12 @@ func (pm *ProviderManager) run(proc goprocess.Process) {
 			err := pm.addProv(np.k, np.val)
 			if err != nil {
 				log.Error("error adding new providers: ", err)
+				continue
+			}
+			if gcSkip != nil {
+				// we have an gc, tell it to skip this provider
+				// as we've updated it since the GC started.
+				gcSkip[mkProvKeyFor(np.k, np.val)] = struct{}{}
 			}
 		case gp := <-pm.getprovs:
 			provs, err := pm.providersForKey(gp.k)
@@ -250,13 +236,62 @@ func (pm *ProviderManager) run(proc goprocess.Process) {
 
 			// set the cap so the user can't append to this.
 			gp.resp <- provs[0:len(provs):len(provs)]
-		case <-tick.C:
+		case res, ok := <-gcQueryRes:
+			if !ok {
+				// cleanup GC round
+				gcQueryRes = nil
+				gcSkip = nil
+				err := gcQuery.Close()
+				gcQuery = nil
+				gcTimer.Reset(pm.cleanupInterval)
+				if err != nil {
+					log.Error("failed to close provider GC query: ", err)
+				}
+				continue
+			}
+			if res.Error != nil {
+				log.Error("got error from GC query: ", res.Error)
+				continue
+			}
+			if _, ok := gcSkip[res.Key]; ok {
+				// We've updated this record since starting the
+				// GC round, skip it.
+				continue
+			}
+
+			// check expiration time
+			t, err := readTimeValue(res.Value)
+			switch {
+			case err != nil:
+				// couldn't parse the time
+				log.Warning("parsing providers record from disk: ", err)
+				fallthrough
+			case gcTime.Sub(t) > ProvideValidity:
+				// or expired
+				err = pm.dstore.Delete(ds.RawKey(res.Key))
+				if err != nil && err != ds.ErrNotFound {
+					log.Warning("failed to remove provider record from disk: ", err)
+				}
+			}
+
+		case gcTime = <-gcTimer.C:
 			// You know the wonderful thing about caches? You can
 			// drop them.
 			//
 			// Much faster than GCing.
 			pm.providers.Purge()
-			pm.gc()
+
+			// Now, kick off a GC of the datastore.
+			q, err := pm.dstore.Query(dsq.Query{
+				Prefix: providersKeyPrefix,
+			})
+			if err != nil {
+				log.Error("provider record GC query failed: ", err)
+				continue
+			}
+			gcQuery = q
+			gcQueryRes = q.Next()
+			gcSkip = make(map[string]struct{})
 		case <-proc.Closing():
 			return
 		}