diff --git a/tests/check-block.sh b/tests/check-block.sh
index 8e29c868e5..a5a69060e1 100755
--- a/tests/check-block.sh
+++ b/tests/check-block.sh
@@ -55,6 +55,9 @@ fi
 
 cd tests/qemu-iotests
 
+# QEMU_CHECK_BLOCK_AUTO is used to disable some unstable sub-tests
+export QEMU_CHECK_BLOCK_AUTO=1
+
 ret=0
 for fmt in $format_list ; do
     ./check -makecheck -$fmt $group || ret=1
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/030 b/tests/qemu-iotests/030
index 31c028306b..dcb4b5d6a6 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/030
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/030
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import time
 import os
 import iotests
+import unittest
 from iotests import qemu_img, qemu_io
 
 backing_img = os.path.join(iotests.test_dir, 'backing.img')
@@ -228,6 +229,7 @@ class TestParallelOps(iotests.QMPTestCase):
 
     # Test that it's possible to run several block-stream operations
     # in parallel in the same snapshot chain
+    @unittest.skipIf(os.environ.get('QEMU_CHECK_BLOCK_AUTO'), 'disabled in CI')
     def test_stream_parallel(self):
         self.assert_no_active_block_jobs()