diff --git a/plugins/inputs/rabbit_mq_parser/rabbit_mq_parser.go b/plugins/inputs/rabbit_mq_parser/rabbit_mq_parser.go
index 36a745e3f..9395deba0 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/rabbit_mq_parser/rabbit_mq_parser.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/rabbit_mq_parser/rabbit_mq_parser.go
@@ -36,13 +36,13 @@ type RabbitMQParser struct {
 	Prefetch        int
 	DroppedLog      string
 
-	conn  *amqp.Connection
-	ch    *amqp.Channel
-	q     amqp.Queue
-	drops int
-	acks  int
-	log   *os.File
-	cl    *ConcurrencyLimiter
+	conn   *amqp.Connection
+	ch     *amqp.Channel
+	q      amqp.Queue
+	drops  int
+	parsed int
+	log    *os.File
+	cl     *ConcurrencyLimiter
 
 	sync.Mutex
 }
@@ -66,11 +66,11 @@ func (rmq *RabbitMQParser) SampleConfig() string {
 // Gather satisfies the telegraf.ServiceInput interface
 // All gathering is done in the Start function
 func (rmq *RabbitMQParser) Gather(_ telegraf.Accumulator) error {
-	numMessages := rmq.drops + rmq.acks
+	numMessages := rmq.drops + rmq.parsed
 	percentDrops := (float64(rmq.drops) / float64(numMessages)) * 100.0
 	log.Printf("Dropped %.2f%% of %d metrics in the last interval", percentDrops, numMessages)
 	rmq.drops = 0
-	rmq.acks = 0
+	rmq.parsed = 0
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ func (rmq *RabbitMQParser) Start(acc telegraf.Accumulator) error {
 	rmq.log = f
 
 	// Limit number of workers to the number of CPU on system
-	rmq.cl = NewConcurrencyLimiter(runtime.NumCPU() * 2)
+	rmq.cl = NewConcurrencyLimiter(runtime.NumCPU())
 
 	// Create queue connection and assign it to RabbitMQParser
 	conn, err := amqp.Dial(rmq.RabbitmqAddress)
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ func (rmq *RabbitMQParser) registerConsumer() <-chan amqp.Delivery {
 func (rmq *RabbitMQParser) listen(msgs <-chan amqp.Delivery, acc telegraf.Accumulator) {
 	for d := range msgs {
 		rmq.cl.Increment()
-		rmq.handleMessage(d, acc)
+		go rmq.handleMessage(d, acc)
 	}
 }
 
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ func (rmq *RabbitMQParser) handleMessage(d amqp.Delivery, acc telegraf.Accumulat
 	}
 	d.Ack(false)
 	acc.AddFields(msg.Name(), msg.Fields(), msg.Tags(), msg.Time())
-	rmq.acks++
+	rmq.parsed++
 	rmq.cl.Decrement()
 }