diff --git a/kseq.h b/kseq.h
index 1905aa6..4d09b43 100644
--- a/kseq.h
+++ b/kseq.h
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ typedef struct __kstring_t {
 			seq->seq.m = 256; \
 			seq->seq.s = (char*)malloc(seq->seq.m); \
 		} \
-		while ((c = ks_getc(ks)) != -1 && c != '>' && c != '+' && c != '@') { \
+		while ((c = ks_getc(ks)) != -1 && c != '>' && c != '+' && c != '@' && c != '&') { \
 			if (c == '\n') continue; /* skip empty lines */ \
 			seq->seq.s[seq->seq.l++] = c; /* this is safe: we always have enough space for 1 char */ \
 			ks_getuntil2(ks, KS_SEP_LINE, &seq->seq, 0, 1); /* read the rest of the line */ \
diff --git a/pssm.c b/pssm.c
index c3618a4..8d78a22 100644
--- a/pssm.c
+++ b/pssm.c
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ PSSM init_matrix(int order, int length, int alphabet_size){
 
   // Check if longer than max-length of PSSMs
   if(length >= MAXPSSMSIZE) {
-    fprintf(stderr,"Matrix is to long.");
+    fprintf(stderr,"Matrix is too long: %d", length);
     return NULL;
   }