diff --git a/modules/io/src/seq/fasta_io_handler.cc b/modules/io/src/seq/fasta_io_handler.cc
index c15f6debb4f49b4c182a62201c6695677a628ba2..48e7d474de7717f83ab92eb1cbe187b6530308da 100644
--- a/modules/io/src/seq/fasta_io_handler.cc
+++ b/modules/io/src/seq/fasta_io_handler.cc
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ void FastaIOHandler::Import(seq::SequenceList& aln,
         aln.AddSequence(seq);          
         seq_count+=1;
       } catch (seq::InvalidSequence& e) {
-        throw e;
+        throw seq::InvalidSequence("Failed for sequence with name " + name + ": " + e.what());
       }
     } else {
       throw IOException("Bad FASTA file: Sequence is empty.");
diff --git a/modules/seq/base/src/invalid_sequence.hh b/modules/seq/base/src/invalid_sequence.hh
index b7162169fc2433f1a82960161cc5a90c740ae0f2..7e1795cfb922d355fc49f14a2a2f436c49108c10 100644
--- a/modules/seq/base/src/invalid_sequence.hh
+++ b/modules/seq/base/src/invalid_sequence.hh
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ public:
   InvalidSequence()
     : Error("Sequence String contains illegal characters. Must "
                          "be one of [A-Za-z?-].") { }
+
+  InvalidSequence(const String& custom_msg)
+    : Error(custom_msg) {}
 };
 
 class DLLEXPORT InvalidAlignment : public Error {