diff --git a/src/Codeception/Lib/Connector/Yii2/ConnectionWatcher.php b/src/Codeception/Lib/Connector/Yii2/ConnectionWatcher.php
index e3be083..58188e7 100644
--- a/src/Codeception/Lib/Connector/Yii2/ConnectionWatcher.php
+++ b/src/Codeception/Lib/Connector/Yii2/ConnectionWatcher.php
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ class ConnectionWatcher
     private readonly Closure $handler;
 
     /**
-     * @var list<Connection>
+     * @var list<\WeakReference<Connection>>
      */
     private array $connections = [];
 
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ public function __construct()
     protected function connectionOpened(Connection $connection): void
     {
         $this->debug('Connection opened!');
-        $this->connections[] = $connection;
+        $this->connections[] = \WeakReference::create($connection);
     }
 
     public function start(): void
@@ -54,9 +54,12 @@ public function closeAll(): void
     {
         $count = count($this->connections);
         $this->debug("closing all ($count) connections");
-        foreach ($this->connections as $connection) {
-            $connection->close();
+        foreach ($this->connections as $ref) {
+            if (null !== $connection = $ref->get()) {
+                $connection->close();
+            }
         }
+        $this->connections = [];
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/Codeception/Module/Yii2.php b/src/Codeception/Module/Yii2.php
index 30f3372..025b3f8 100644
--- a/src/Codeception/Module/Yii2.php
+++ b/src/Codeception/Module/Yii2.php
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 use Codeception\Lib\Framework;
 use Codeception\Lib\Interfaces\ActiveRecord;
 use Codeception\Lib\Interfaces\PartedModule;
+use Codeception\Lib\ModuleContainer;
 use Codeception\TestInterface;
 use Exception;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\Assert;
@@ -247,7 +248,7 @@ final class Yii2 extends Framework implements ActiveRecord, PartedModule
     /**
      * Helper to force database transaction
      */
-    private TransactionForcer $transactionForcer;
+    private null|TransactionForcer $transactionForcer;
 
     /**
      * @var array<mixed> The contents of upon initialization of this object.
@@ -269,6 +270,14 @@ private function getClient(): Yii2Connector
         return $this->client;
     }
 
+    public function __construct(ModuleContainer $moduleContainer, ?array $config = null)
+    {
+        parent::__construct($moduleContainer, $config);
+        $this->connectionWatcher = new ConnectionWatcher();
+        $this->connectionWatcher->start();
+    }
+
+
     public function _initialize(): void
     {
         if ($this->config['transaction'] === null) {
@@ -393,9 +402,6 @@ public function _before(TestInterface $test): void
         $this->yiiLogger = new Yii2Connector\Logger();
         $this->getClient()->startApp($this->yiiLogger);
 
-        $this->connectionWatcher = new ConnectionWatcher();
-        $this->connectionWatcher->start();
-
         // load fixtures before db transaction
         if ($test instanceof \Codeception\Test\Cest) {
             $this->loadFixtures($test->getTestInstance());
@@ -447,9 +453,7 @@ public function _after(TestInterface $test): void
         $this->getClient()->resetApplication();
 
         if (isset($this->connectionWatcher)) {
-            $this->connectionWatcher->stop();
             $this->connectionWatcher->closeAll();
-            unset($this->connectionWatcher);
         }
 
         parent::_after($test);