diff --git a/src/python/WMComponent/AgentStatusWatcher/AgentStatusPoller.py b/src/python/WMComponent/AgentStatusWatcher/AgentStatusPoller.py
index 3319409175..52b603381e 100644
--- a/src/python/WMComponent/AgentStatusWatcher/AgentStatusPoller.py
+++ b/src/python/WMComponent/AgentStatusWatcher/AgentStatusPoller.py
@@ -167,26 +167,18 @@ def collectWorkQueueInfo(self):
 
         return results
 
-    def collectCouchDBInfo(self):
+    def checkCouchStatus(self):
         """
-        This method collects information from CouchDB, such that it can report
-        on any problematic replication task
+        This method checks whether CouchDB is running properly and it also
+        verifies whether all the replication tasks are progressing as expected
         :return: a dictionary with the status for CouchServer
         """
         couchInfo = {'name': 'CouchServer', 'status': 'ok', 'error_message': ""}
 
-        replicationDocs = self.localCouchMonitor.getSchedulerDocs()
-
-        if len(replicationDocs) != len(self.replicatorDocs):
-            msg = "Could not find all the replication documents in CouchDB."
-            msg += "Scheduler docs report the following: {}".format(replicationDocs)
-            couchInfo.update({'status': 'error', 'error_message': msg})
-            return couchInfo
-
-        for rp in replicationDocs:
-            if rp['state'].lower() not in ["pending", "running"]:
-                couchInfo['status'] = 'error'
-                couchInfo['error_message'] = rp.get('error_message', rp.get('info'))
+        for rp in self.replicatorDocs:
+            cInfo = self.localCouchMonitor.checkCouchServerStatus(rp['source'], rp['target'])
+            if cInfo['status'] != 'ok':
+                couchInfo.update({'status': 'error', 'error_message': cInfo['error_message']})
 
         return couchInfo
 
@@ -214,7 +206,7 @@ def collectAgentInfo(self):
         else:
             agentInfo['drain_mode'] = False
 
-        couchInfo = self.collectCouchDBInfo()
+        couchInfo = self.checkCouchStatus()
         if couchInfo['status'] != 'ok':
             agentInfo['down_components'].append(couchInfo['name'])
             agentInfo['status'] = couchInfo['status']
diff --git a/src/python/WMCore/Database/CMSCouch.py b/src/python/WMCore/Database/CMSCouch.py
index 1b3eda8fc4..a659350a87 100644
--- a/src/python/WMCore/Database/CMSCouch.py
+++ b/src/python/WMCore/Database/CMSCouch.py
@@ -960,6 +960,13 @@ def __init__(self, dburl='http://localhost:5984', usePYCurl=True, ckey=None, cer
         self.ckey = ckey
         self.cert = cert
 
+    def getCouchWelcome(self):
+        """
+        Retrieve CouchDB welcome information (which includes the version number)
+        :return: a dictionary
+        """
+        return self.get('')
+
     def listDatabases(self):
         "List all the databases the server hosts"
         return self.get('/_all_dbs')
@@ -1149,8 +1156,10 @@ def __init__(self, couchURL):
             self.couchServer = CouchServer(couchURL)
 
         self.replicatorDB = self.couchServer.connectDatabase('_replicator', False)
-        # this is set {source: {taget: update_sequence}}
-        self.previousUpdateSequence = {}
+
+        # use the CouchDB version to decide which APIs and schema is available
+        couchInfo = self.couchServer.getCouchWelcome()
+        self.couchVersion = couchInfo.get("version")
 
     def deleteReplicatorDocs(self, source=None, target=None, repDocs=None):
         if repDocs is None:
@@ -1242,21 +1251,30 @@ def getSchedulerDocs(self):
     def checkCouchServerStatus(self, source, target):
         """
         Check the status of a specific replication task
+
         :param source: string with the source database
         :param target: string with the target database
         :return: a dictionary with the current state of that replication
         """
-        replDocs = self.getSchedulerDocs()
         passwdStrippedTarget = target.split("@")[-1]
+        if self.couchVersion == "1.6.1":
+            activeTasks = self.couchServer.getActiveTasks()
+            # keep only replications
+            activeTasks = [task for task in activeTasks if task["type"].lower() == "replication"]
+        else:
+            # then assume it's CouchDB >= 3.x
+            activeTasks = self.getSchedulerDocs()
 
-        for replication in replDocs:
+        for replication in activeTasks:
             if passwdStrippedTarget in replication.get("target", ""):
-                if replication.get('state', '').lower() in ["pending", "running"]:
+                # note that CouchDB 1.6 does not have this 'state' key
+                if replication.get('state', 'running').lower() in ["pending", "running"]:
                     # now check the replication based on update_on attribute
-                    if self.checkReplicationStatus(replication, source, passwdStrippedTarget):
+                    if self.isReplicationOK(replication, source, passwdStrippedTarget):
                         return {'status': 'ok'}
                     else:
-                        msg = "Replication from %s to %s is stale" % (source, target)
+                        msg = f"Replication from {source} to {target} is stale "
+                        msg += f"in state: {replication.get('state')}"
                         return {'status': 'error', 'error_message': msg}
                 else:
                     msg = "Replication stopped from %s to %s.\n" % (source, passwdStrippedTarget)
@@ -1265,7 +1283,7 @@ def checkCouchServerStatus(self, source, target):
         msg = "Failed to find a replication document from %s to %s.\n" % (source, passwdStrippedTarget)
         return {'status': 'down', 'error_message': msg}
 
-    def checkReplicationStatus(self, replInfo, source, target):
+    def isReplicationOK(self, replInfo, source, target):
         """
         Checks whether a given replication task has been updated over the
         last 5 minutes.