diff --git a/Parser/readWQMdat.m b/Parser/readWQMdat.m
index 6b20e77c6..01593cb08 100644
--- a/Parser/readWQMdat.m
+++ b/Parser/readWQMdat.m
@@ -497,6 +497,9 @@ case upper('DO(mg/l)') % DOX1_3
     end
 end
 
+% handle potential unlabelled last column
+format=strcat(format,'%*s');
+
 %remove unsupported fields from header list
 fields(unsupported) = [];
 end