diff --git a/src/fix_ave_chunk.cpp b/src/fix_ave_chunk.cpp
index dd3d69fac3..6c0951597f 100644
--- a/src/fix_ave_chunk.cpp
+++ b/src/fix_ave_chunk.cpp
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ FixAveChunk::FixAveChunk(LAMMPS *lmp, int narg, char **arg) :
   nvalues = 0;
 
   int iarg = 0;
-  while (iarg < narg) {
+  while (iarg < nargnew) {
 
     ids[nvalues] = NULL;