diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 443a5f9..76905af 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ extras_require = {
     ],
     'password': ['passlib >= 1.6, < 2.0'],
     'color': ['colour>=0.0.4'],
+    'ipaddress': ['ipaddr'] if not PY3 else []
 }
 
 
diff --git a/sqlalchemy_utils/types/ip_address.py b/sqlalchemy_utils/types/ip_address.py
index 8065762..237ada2 100644
--- a/sqlalchemy_utils/types/ip_address.py
+++ b/sqlalchemy_utils/types/ip_address.py
@@ -1,45 +1,43 @@
 import six
 
-ipaddress = None
 try:
-    import ipaddress
-except:
-    pass
+    from ipaddress import ip_address
+
+except ImportError:
+    try:
+        from ipaddr import IPAddress as ip_address
+
+    except ImportError:
+        ip_address = None
+
+
 from sqlalchemy import types
 from sqlalchemy_utils import ImproperlyConfigured
 
 
 class IPAddressType(types.TypeDecorator):
     """
-    Changes Color objects to a string representation on the way in and
-    changes them back to Color objects on the way out.
+    Changes IPAddress objects to a string representation on the way in and
+    changes them back to IPAddress objects on the way out.
     """
+
     impl = types.Unicode(50)
 
     def __init__(self, max_length=50, *args, **kwargs):
-        if not ipaddress:
+        if not ip_address:
             raise ImproperlyConfigured(
-                "'ipaddress' package is required to use 'IPAddressType'"
+                "'ipaddr' package is required to use 'IPAddressType' "
+                "in python 2"
             )
 
         super(IPAddressType, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
         self.impl = types.Unicode(max_length)
 
     def process_bind_param(self, value, dialect):
-        if value:
-            return six.text_type(value)
-        return value
+        return six.text_type(value) if value else None
 
     def process_result_value(self, value, dialect):
-        if value:
-            return ipaddress.ip_address(value)
-        return value
+        return ip_address(value) if value else None
 
     def coercion_listener(self, target, value, oldvalue, initiator):
-        if (
-            value is not None and
-            not isinstance(value, ipaddress.IPv4Address) and
-            not isinstance(value, ipaddress.IPv6Address)
-        ):
-            value = ipaddress.ip_address(value)
-        return value
+        return ip_address(value) if value else None
diff --git a/tests/test_ip_address.py b/tests/test_ip_address.py
index da3c13c..a3725ba 100644
--- a/tests/test_ip_address.py
+++ b/tests/test_ip_address.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ from sqlalchemy_utils.types import ip_address
 from tests import TestCase
 
 
-@mark.skipif('ip_address.ipaddress is None')
+@mark.skipif('ip_address.ip_address is None')
 class TestIPAddressType(TestCase):
     def create_models(self):
         class Visitor(self.Base):