diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 363cd85..62ed13e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,20 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog][keepachangelog] and adheres to [Semant
 ### Deprecated
 
 ### Fixed
+## [0.53.18] - 2025-11-03
+
+### Added
+\n
+### Changed
+- Increased the connection timeout during peer discovery from 15 seconds to 20 seconds to improve connection reliability.
+- Removed unnecessary debug logging related to filtering out ephemeral port addresses during peer exchange.
+
+### Deprecated
+
+### Removed
+
+### Fixed
+\n
 ## [0.53.17] - 2025-11-03
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ee694ad..22f1d5c 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ test-e2e:
 
 .PHONY: build clean test run-node run-node2 run-node3 run-example deps tidy fmt vet lint clear-ports install-hooks
 
-VERSION := 0.53.17
+VERSION := 0.53.18
 COMMIT  ?= $(shell git rev-parse --short HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo unknown)
 DATE    ?= $(shell date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)
 LDFLAGS := -X 'main.version=$(VERSION)' -X 'main.commit=$(COMMIT)' -X 'main.date=$(DATE)'
diff --git a/pkg/discovery/discovery.go b/pkg/discovery/discovery.go
index ef8da35..aa26f26 100644
--- a/pkg/discovery/discovery.go
+++ b/pkg/discovery/discovery.go
@@ -128,11 +128,6 @@ func (d *Manager) handlePeerExchangeStream(s network.Stream) {
 					// Common LibP2P ports are typically < 10000
 					if portNum > 0 && portNum <= 32767 {
 						filteredAddrs = append(filteredAddrs, addr)
-					} else {
-						d.logger.Debug("Filtering out ephemeral port address",
-							zap.String("peer_id", pid.String()[:8]+"..."),
-							zap.String("addr", addr.String()),
-							zap.Int("port", portNum))
 					}
 				} else {
 					// If we can't parse port, include it anyway (might be non-TCP)
@@ -358,7 +353,7 @@ func (d *Manager) discoverViaPeerExchange(ctx context.Context, maxConnections in
 			d.host.Peerstore().AddAddrs(parsedID, addrs, time.Hour*24)
 
 			// Try to connect
-			connectCtx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 15*time.Second)
+			connectCtx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 20*time.Second)
 			peerAddrInfo := peer.AddrInfo{ID: parsedID, Addrs: addrs}
 
 			if err := d.host.Connect(connectCtx, peerAddrInfo); err != nil {