diff --git a/fluxer_api/pkgs/cassandra/src/Client.ts b/fluxer_api/pkgs/cassandra/src/Client.ts
index 1198c4511..1e148f2eb 100644
--- a/fluxer_api/pkgs/cassandra/src/Client.ts
+++ b/fluxer_api/pkgs/cassandra/src/Client.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ import cassandra from 'cassandra-driver';
 
 const distance = cassandra.types.distance;
 
+const MAX_REQUESTS_PER_CONNECTION = 2048;
+const READ_TIMEOUT_MS = 12000;
+
 interface CassandraConfig {
 	hosts: Array<string>;
 	port?: number | undefined;
@@ -83,12 +86,15 @@ class CassandraClient implements ICassandraClient {
 				port: this.config.port ?? 9042,
 			},
 			pooling: {
-				maxRequestsPerConnection: 32768,
+				maxRequestsPerConnection: MAX_REQUESTS_PER_CONNECTION,
 				coreConnectionsPerHost: {
 					[distance.local]: 4,
 					[distance.remote]: 2,
 				},
 			},
+			socketOptions: {
+				readTimeout: READ_TIMEOUT_MS,
+			},
 			encoding: {
 				map: Map,
 				set: Set,
diff --git a/fluxer_api/src/api/database/CassandraQueryExecution.test.ts b/fluxer_api/src/api/database/CassandraQueryExecution.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2761fb32f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fluxer_api/src/api/database/CassandraQueryExecution.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
+
+import {ServiceUnavailableError} from '@fluxer/errors/src/domains/core/ServiceUnavailableError';
+import cassandra from 'cassandra-driver';
+import {describe, expect, it} from 'vitest';
+import {mapCassandraDriverError} from './CassandraQueryExecution';
+
+function busyConnectionError(): cassandra.errors.BusyConnectionError {
+	return new cassandra.errors.BusyConnectionError('127.0.0.1:9042', 2048, 4);
+}
+
+describe('mapCassandraDriverError', () => {
+	it('sheds a busy connection error as a 503', () => {
+		const mapped = mapCassandraDriverError(busyConnectionError());
+		expect(mapped).toBeInstanceOf(ServiceUnavailableError);
+		expect((mapped as ServiceUnavailableError).status).toBe(503);
+	});
+
+	it('sheds a busy connection error nested in a no host available error as a 503', () => {
+		const mapped = mapCassandraDriverError(
+			new cassandra.errors.NoHostAvailableError({'127.0.0.1:9042': busyConnectionError()}),
+		);
+		expect(mapped).toBeInstanceOf(ServiceUnavailableError);
+		expect((mapped as ServiceUnavailableError).status).toBe(503);
+	});
+
+	it('returns other no host available errors unchanged', () => {
+		const err = new cassandra.errors.NoHostAvailableError({'127.0.0.1:9042': new Error('connection refused')});
+		expect(mapCassandraDriverError(err)).toBe(err);
+	});
+
+	it('returns unrelated errors unchanged', () => {
+		const err = new cassandra.errors.ResponseError(0x2200, 'invalid query');
+		expect(mapCassandraDriverError(err)).toBe(err);
+	});
+});
diff --git a/fluxer_api/src/api/database/CassandraQueryExecution.ts b/fluxer_api/src/api/database/CassandraQueryExecution.ts
index 0f28642e5..4569c9967 100644
--- a/fluxer_api/src/api/database/CassandraQueryExecution.ts
+++ b/fluxer_api/src/api/database/CassandraQueryExecution.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
 
+import {ServiceUnavailableError} from '@fluxer/errors/src/domains/core/ServiceUnavailableError';
 import {getClient} from '@pkgs/cassandra/src/Client';
-import type cassandra from 'cassandra-driver';
+import cassandra from 'cassandra-driver';
 import {Logger} from '../Logger';
 import {getQueryType, logBatch, logQuery} from './CassandraDevLogger';
 import {getIsDev} from './CassandraMetaRegistry';
@@ -16,6 +17,22 @@ import {
 
 const DEFAULT_MAX_PARTITION_KEYS_PER_QUERY = 100;
 
+function isDriverOverloadError(err: unknown): boolean {
+	if (err instanceof cassandra.errors.BusyConnectionError) {
+		return true;
+	}
+	if (err instanceof cassandra.errors.NoHostAvailableError && err.innerErrors) {
+		return Object.values(err.innerErrors as Record<string, unknown>).some(
+			(innerError) => innerError instanceof cassandra.errors.BusyConnectionError,
+		);
+	}
+	return false;
+}
+
+export function mapCassandraDriverError(err: unknown): unknown {
+	return isDriverOverloadError(err) ? new ServiceUnavailableError() : err;
+}
+
 export interface CassandraQueryExecutorForTesting {
 	executeQuery<T = Record<string, unknown>, P extends CassandraParams = CassandraParams>(
 		query: PreparedQuery<P>,
@@ -121,7 +138,7 @@ export async function executeQuery<T = Record<string, unknown>, P extends Cassan
 		}
 		const errorMessage = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
 		Logger.warn({error: errorMessage, query: cql, params: paramSummary}, 'Cassandra query failed');
-		throw err;
+		throw mapCassandraDriverError(err);
 	}
 }
 
@@ -249,10 +266,14 @@ async function executeBatch(queries: Array<BatchQuery>, atomic = true): Promise<
 		counter: false,
 	};
 	const startTime = getIsDev() ? performance.now() : 0;
-	await getClient().batch(
-		queries.map(({query, params}) => ({query, params: normalizeInParams(query, params as CassandraParams)})),
-		options,
-	);
+	try {
+		await getClient().batch(
+			queries.map(({query, params}) => ({query, params: normalizeInParams(query, params as CassandraParams)})),
+			options,
+		);
+	} catch (err: unknown) {
+		throw mapCassandraDriverError(err);
+	}
 	if (getIsDev()) {
 		const durationMs = performance.now() - startTime;
 		logBatch(queries, durationMs);