diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/HBaseFsck.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/HBaseFsck.java
index 09e3acdfef6..ea743eafe97 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/HBaseFsck.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/HBaseFsck.java
@@ -267,8 +267,7 @@ public class HBaseFsck extends Configured implements Tool {
     super(conf);
     errors = getErrorReporter(conf);
 
-    int numThreads = conf.getInt("hbasefsck.numthreads", MAX_NUM_THREADS);
-    executor = new ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor(numThreads, Threads.newDaemonThreadFactory("hbasefsck"));
+    initialPoolNumThreads();
   }
 
   /**
@@ -299,6 +298,18 @@ public class HBaseFsck extends Configured implements Tool {
     connection = admin.getConnection();
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Initial numThreads for {@link #executor}
+   */
+  private void initialPoolNumThreads() {
+    if (executor != null) {
+      executor.shutdown();
+    }
+  
+    int numThreads = getConf().getInt("hbasefsck.numthreads", MAX_NUM_THREADS);
+    executor = new ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor(numThreads, Threads.newDaemonThreadFactory("hbasefsck"));
+  }
+
   /**
    * Get deployed regions according to the region servers.
    */
@@ -3596,6 +3607,9 @@ public class HBaseFsck extends Configured implements Tool {
 
   @Override
   public int run(String[] args) throws Exception {
+    // reset the numThreads due to user may set it via generic options
+    initialPoolNumThreads();
+
     exec(executor, args);
     return getRetCode();
   }