diff --git core/src/main/scala/kafka/consumer/ConsumerConfig.scala core/src/main/scala/kafka/consumer/ConsumerConfig.scala
index 1210f3f..26c4854 100644
--- core/src/main/scala/kafka/consumer/ConsumerConfig.scala
+++ core/src/main/scala/kafka/consumer/ConsumerConfig.scala
@@ -21,7 +21,11 @@ import java.util.Properties
 import kafka.utils.{ZKConfig, Utils}
 import kafka.api.OffsetRequest
 import kafka.common.InvalidConfigException
+import org.apache.log4j.Logger
+
 object ConsumerConfig {
+  private val logger = Logger.getLogger(getClass())
+
   val SocketTimeout = 30 * 1000
   val SocketBufferSize = 64*1024
   val FetchSize = 300 * 1024
@@ -88,8 +92,15 @@ class ConsumerConfig(props: Properties) extends ZKConfig(props) {
 
   /** Whitelist of topics for this mirror's embedded consumer to consume. At
    *  most one of whitelist/blacklist may be specified. */
-  val mirrorTopicsWhitelist = Utils.getString(
-    props, MirrorTopicsWhitelistProp, MirrorTopicsWhitelist)
+  val mirrorTopicsWhitelist = {
+    val givenMTW = Utils.getString(
+      props, MirrorTopicsWhitelistProp, MirrorTopicsWhitelist)
+    val cleanedMTW = givenMTW.replaceAll(":[\\d]+","")
+    if (!givenMTW.equals(cleanedMTW))
+      logger.warn("Using \"%s\" for %s. (Use %s to specify consumer thread count.)".format(
+          cleanedMTW, MirrorTopicsWhitelistProp, MirrorConsumerNumThreadsProp))
+    cleanedMTW
+  }
  
   /** Topics to skip mirroring. At most one of whitelist/blacklist may be
    *  specified */
diff --git system_test/embedded_consumer/bin/run-test.sh system_test/embedded_consumer/bin/run-test.sh
index 6c6c97b..cad9d33 100755
--- system_test/embedded_consumer/bin/run-test.sh
+++ system_test/embedded_consumer/bin/run-test.sh
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ start_source_servers() {
 }
 
 start_target_servers_for_whitelist_test() {
-    echo "starting mirror cluster"
+    info "starting mirror cluster"
     $base_dir/../../bin/kafka-run-class.sh kafka.Kafka $base_dir/config/server_target1.properties $base_dir/config/whitelisttest.consumer.properties $base_dir/config/mirror_producer.properties 2>&1 > $base_dir/kafka_target1.log &
     pid_kafka_target1=$!
     $base_dir/../../bin/kafka-run-class.sh kafka.Kafka $base_dir/config/server_target2.properties $base_dir/config/whitelisttest.consumer.properties $base_dir/config/mirror_producer.properties 2>&1 > $base_dir/kafka_target2.log &
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ start_target_servers_for_whitelist_test() {
 }
 
 start_target_servers_for_blacklist_test() {
-    echo "starting mirror cluster"
+    info "starting mirror cluster"
     $base_dir/../../bin/kafka-run-class.sh kafka.Kafka $base_dir/config/server_target1.properties $base_dir/config/blacklisttest.consumer.properties $base_dir/config/mirror_producer.properties 2>&1 > $base_dir/kafka_target1.log &
     pid_kafka_target1=$!
     $base_dir/../../bin/kafka-run-class.sh kafka.Kafka $base_dir/config/server_target2.properties $base_dir/config/blacklisttest.consumer.properties $base_dir/config/mirror_producer.properties 2>&1 > $base_dir/kafka_target2.log &
diff --git system_test/embedded_consumer/config/consumer.properties system_test/embedded_consumer/config/consumer.properties
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29..0000000