diff --git a/src/RHEO/fix_rheo.cpp b/src/RHEO/fix_rheo.cpp
index 5bcef00367..c2ff2d8b09 100644
--- a/src/RHEO/fix_rheo.cpp
+++ b/src/RHEO/fix_rheo.cpp
@@ -118,17 +118,17 @@ FixRHEO::FixRHEO(LAMMPS *lmp, int narg, char **arg) :
       shift_flag = 1;
       memory->create(shift_type, n + 1, "rheo:shift_type");
       for (i = 1; i <= n; i++) shift_type[i] = 1;
-      while (iarg < narg) {  // optional sub-arguments
-        if (strcmp(arg[iarg], "scale/cross/type") == 0) {
-          if (iarg + 3 >= narg) utils::missing_cmd_args(FLERR, "fix rheo shift scale/cross/type", error);
+      while (iarg + 1 < narg) {  // optional sub-arguments
+        if (strcmp(arg[iarg + 1], "scale/cross/type") == 0) {
+          if (iarg + 4 >= narg) utils::missing_cmd_args(FLERR, "fix rheo shift scale/cross/type", error);
           shift_cross_type_flag = 1;
-          shift_scale = utils::numeric(FLERR, arg[iarg + 1], false, lmp);
-          shift_cmin = utils::numeric(FLERR, arg[iarg + 2], false, lmp);
-          shift_wmin = utils::numeric(FLERR, arg[iarg + 3], false, lmp);
+          shift_scale = utils::numeric(FLERR, arg[iarg + 2], false, lmp);
+          shift_cmin = utils::numeric(FLERR, arg[iarg + 3], false, lmp);
+          shift_wmin = utils::numeric(FLERR, arg[iarg + 4], false, lmp);
           iarg += 3;
-        } else if (strcmp(arg[iarg], "exclude/type") == 0) {
-          if (iarg + 1 >= narg) utils::missing_cmd_args(FLERR, "fix rheo shift exclude/type", error);
-          utils::bounds(FLERR, arg[iarg + 1], 1, n, nlo, nhi, error);
+        } else if (strcmp(arg[iarg + 1], "exclude/type") == 0) {
+          if (iarg + 2 >= narg) utils::missing_cmd_args(FLERR, "fix rheo shift exclude/type", error);
+          utils::bounds(FLERR, arg[iarg + 2], 1, n, nlo, nhi, error);
           for (i = nlo; i <= nhi; i++) shift_type[i] = 0;
           iarg += 1;
         } else {