diff --git a/src/main/java/io/debezium/connector/vitess/connection/VStreamOutputMessageDecoder.java b/src/main/java/io/debezium/connector/vitess/connection/VStreamOutputMessageDecoder.java
index e7f5d379..e8c75fbe 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/debezium/connector/vitess/connection/VStreamOutputMessageDecoder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/debezium/connector/vitess/connection/VStreamOutputMessageDecoder.java
@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ private void handleFieldMessage(Binlogdata.VEvent vEvent) {
                 List<ColumnMetaData> columns = new ArrayList<>(columnCount);
                 for (short i = 0; i < columnCount; ++i) {
                     Field field = fieldEvent.getFields(i);
-                    String columnName = field.getName();
+                    String columnName = validateColumnName(field.getName(), schemaName, tableName);
                     String columnType = field.getType().name();
                     VitessType vitessType = VitessType.resolve(columnType);
                     if (vitessType.getJdbcId() == Types.OTHER) {
@@ -388,4 +388,20 @@ else if (uniqueKeyColumnName != null) {
 
         return tableEditor.create();
     }
+
+    private static String validateColumnName(String columnName, String schemaName, String tableName) {
+        int length = columnName.length();
+        if (length == 0) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                    String.format("Empty column name from schema: %s, table: %s", schemaName, tableName));
+        }
+        char first = columnName.charAt(0);
+        // Vitess VStreamer schema reloading transient bug could cause column names to be anonymized to @1, @2, etc
+        // We want to fail in this case instead of sending the corrupted row events with @1, @2 as column names.
+        if (first == '@') {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                    String.format("Illegal prefix '@' for column: %s, from schema: %s, table: %s", columnName, schemaName, tableName));
+        }
+        return columnName;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/io/debezium/connector/vitess/connection/VitessReplicationConnection.java b/src/main/java/io/debezium/connector/vitess/connection/VitessReplicationConnection.java
index 2db6359c..9f3dc883 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/debezium/connector/vitess/connection/VitessReplicationConnection.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/debezium/connector/vitess/connection/VitessReplicationConnection.java
@@ -120,8 +120,8 @@ private Vgtid getVgtid(Vtgate.VStreamResponse response) {
                     // The VStreamResponse that contains an VERSION vEvent does not have VGTID.
                     // We do not update lastReceivedVgtid in this case.
                     // It can also be null if the 1st grpc response does not have vgtid upon restart
-                    LOGGER.warn("No vgtid found in response {}...", response.toString().substring(0, Math.min(100, response.toString().length())));
-                    LOGGER.debug("Response is {}", response);
+                    LOGGER.trace("No vgtid found in response {}...", response.toString().substring(0, Math.min(100, response.toString().length())));
+                    LOGGER.debug("Full response is {}", response);
                     return null;
                 }
                 if (vgtids.size() > 1) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/debezium/connector/vitess/VitessConnectorIT.java b/src/test/java/io/debezium/connector/vitess/VitessConnectorIT.java
index 17f3857b..8078630a 100644
--- a/src/test/java/io/debezium/connector/vitess/VitessConnectorIT.java
+++ b/src/test/java/io/debezium/connector/vitess/VitessConnectorIT.java
@@ -9,10 +9,12 @@
 import static org.fest.assertions.Assertions.assertThat;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.function.Function;
 import java.util.stream.IntStream;
@@ -33,6 +35,7 @@
 import io.debezium.data.Envelope;
 import io.debezium.data.VerifyRecord;
 import io.debezium.doc.FixFor;
+import io.debezium.embedded.EmbeddedEngine;
 import io.debezium.relational.TableId;
 import io.debezium.util.Testing;
 
@@ -408,6 +411,34 @@ public void shouldPrioritizePrimaryKeyAsRecordKey() throws Exception {
         assertConnectorNotRunning();
     }
 
+    @Test
+    @FixFor("DBZ-2836")
+    public void shouldTaskFailIfColumnNameInvalid() throws Exception {
+        TestHelper.executeDDL("vitess_create_tables.ddl");
+        TestHelper.execute("ALTER TABLE numeric_table ADD `@1` INT;");
+
+        CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(1);
+        EmbeddedEngine.CompletionCallback completionCallback = (success, message, error) -> {
+            if (error != null) {
+                latch.countDown();
+            }
+            else {
+                fail("A controlled exception was expected....");
+            }
+        };
+        start(VitessConnector.class, TestHelper.defaultConfig().build(), completionCallback);
+        assertConnectorIsRunning();
+        waitForStreamingRunning();
+
+        // Connector receives a row whose column name is not valid, task should fail
+        TestHelper.execute(INSERT_NUMERIC_TYPES_STMT);
+        if (!latch.await(TestHelper.waitTimeForRecords(), TimeUnit.SECONDS)) {
+            fail("did not reach stop condition in time");
+        }
+
+        assertConnectorNotRunning();
+    }
+
     private void startConnector() throws InterruptedException {
         startConnector(false);
     }