diff --git a/src/core/ipns/publisher.js b/src/core/ipns/publisher.js
index aa330ce053..2220d28174 100644
--- a/src/core/ipns/publisher.js
+++ b/src/core/ipns/publisher.js
@@ -182,10 +182,9 @@ class IpnsPublisher {
           return callback(err)
         }
 
-        this._routing.get(keys.routingKey, (err, res) => {
+        this._routing.get(keys.routingKey.toBuffer(), (err, res) => {
           if (err) {
-            log(`error when determining the last published IPNS record for ${peerId.id}`)
-            return callback(null, null)
+            return callback(err)
           }
 
           // unmarshal data
@@ -206,7 +205,7 @@ class IpnsPublisher {
       const errMsg = `found ipns record that we couldn't convert to a value`
 
       log.error(errMsg)
-      return callback(null, null)
+      return callback(errcode(new Error(errMsg), 'ERR_INVALID_RECORD_DATA'))
     }
 
     callback(null, result)
@@ -226,11 +225,17 @@ class IpnsPublisher {
 
     this._getPublished(peerId, getPublishedOptions, (err, record) => {
       if (err) {
-        return callback(err)
+        if (err.code !== 'ERR_NOT_FOUND') {
+          const errMsg = `unexpected error when determining the last published IPNS record for ${peerId.id}`
+
+          log.error(errMsg)
+          return callback(errcode(new Error(errMsg), 'ERR_DETERMINING_PUBLISHED_RECORD'))
+        }
       }
 
       // Determinate the record sequence number
       let seqNumber = 0
+
       if (record && record.sequence !== undefined) {
         seqNumber = record.value.toString() !== value ? record.sequence + 1 : record.sequence
       }
diff --git a/test/core/name.js b/test/core/name.js
index 7aa11ecdfe..e43627ea94 100644
--- a/test/core/name.js
+++ b/test/core/name.js
@@ -340,7 +340,7 @@ describe('name', function () {
 
       node.name.publish(ipfsRef, { resolve: false }, (err, res) => {
         expect(err).to.exist()
-        expect(err.code).to.equal('ERR_UNEXPECTED_DATASTORE_RESPONSE')
+        expect(err.code).to.equal('ERR_DETERMINING_PUBLISHED_RECORD')
 
         stub.restore()
         done()
diff --git a/test/fixtures/go-ipfs-repo/datastore/CURRENT b/test/fixtures/go-ipfs-repo/datastore/CURRENT
index 056df57bb7..e60e1543b3 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/go-ipfs-repo/datastore/CURRENT
+++ b/test/fixtures/go-ipfs-repo/datastore/CURRENT
@@ -1 +1 @@
-MANIFEST-000017
+MANIFEST-000021
diff --git a/test/fixtures/go-ipfs-repo/datastore/MANIFEST-000017 b/test/fixtures/go-ipfs-repo/datastore/MANIFEST-000021
similarity index 91%
rename from test/fixtures/go-ipfs-repo/datastore/MANIFEST-000017
rename to test/fixtures/go-ipfs-repo/datastore/MANIFEST-000021
index fb6bc82f41..dd5db1fec0 100644
Binary files a/test/fixtures/go-ipfs-repo/datastore/MANIFEST-000017 and b/test/fixtures/go-ipfs-repo/datastore/MANIFEST-000021 differ
diff --git a/test/fixtures/go-ipfs-repo/datastore_spec b/test/fixtures/go-ipfs-repo/datastore_spec
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7bf9626c24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/go-ipfs-repo/datastore_spec
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"mounts":[{"mountpoint":"/blocks","path":"blocks","shardFunc":"/repo/flatfs/shard/v1/next-to-last/2","type":"flatfs"},{"mountpoint":"/","path":"datastore","type":"levelds"}],"type":"mount"}
\ No newline at end of file