diff --git a/src/base/ct2ctml.cpp b/src/base/ct2ctml.cpp
index e19a59747..8b179207b 100644
--- a/src/base/ct2ctml.cpp
+++ b/src/base/ct2ctml.cpp
@@ -178,8 +178,9 @@ void ct2ctml(const char* file, const int debug)
                 writelog("cannot open ct2ctml.log for reading.\n");
             }
         }
-    } catch (...) {
-        writelog("ct2ctml: caught something \n");
+    } catch (std::exception& err) {
+        writelog("ct2ctml: Exception while trying to parse ct2ctml.log:\n");
+        writelog(err.what());
     }
     if (ierr != 0) {
         string msg = cmd;
@@ -245,8 +246,9 @@ void get_CTML_Tree(Cantera::XML_Node* rootPtr, const std::string file, const int
     if (ext != ".xml" && ext != ".ctml") {
         try {
             ctml::ct2ctml(inname.c_str(), debug);
-        } catch (...) {
-            writelog("get_CTML_Tree: caught something \n");
+        } catch (std::exception& err) {
+            writelog("get_CTML_Tree: caught an exception:\n");
+            writelog(err.what());
         }
         string ffull = inname.substr(0,idot) + ".xml";
         ff = "./" + getBaseName(ffull) + ".xml";
diff --git a/src/converters/CKReader.cpp b/src/converters/CKReader.cpp
index 74c1ddefa..74da035b5 100644
--- a/src/converters/CKReader.cpp
+++ b/src/converters/CKReader.cpp
@@ -302,12 +302,13 @@ bool CKReader::read(const std::string& inputFile, const std::string& thermoDatab
         }
     }
 
-    catch (CK_Exception e) {
+    catch (CK_Exception& e) {
         log << e.errorMessage() << endl;
         //Cantera::setError("CKReader::read",e.errorMessage());
         return false;
-    } catch (...) {
-        log << "an exception was raised in CKReader.";
+    } catch (std::exception& e) {
+        log << "an exception was raised in CKReader:\n";
+        log << e.what() << std::endl;
         return false;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/zeroD/ReactorNet.cpp b/src/zeroD/ReactorNet.cpp
index 6d02f58ad..126aef4c8 100644
--- a/src/zeroD/ReactorNet.cpp
+++ b/src/zeroD/ReactorNet.cpp
@@ -211,8 +211,8 @@ void ReactorNet::eval(doublereal t, doublereal* y,
             start += m_size[n];
             pstart += m_nparams[n];
         }
-    } catch (...) {
-        showErrors();
+    } catch (CanteraError& err) {
+        std::cerr << err.what() << std::endl;
         error("Terminating execution.");
     }
 }
@@ -247,8 +247,8 @@ void ReactorNet::evalJacobian(doublereal t, doublereal* y,
             }
             y[n] = ysave;
         }
-    } catch (...) {
-        showErrors();
+    } catch (CanteraError& err) {
+        std::cerr << err.what() << std::endl;
         error("Terminating execution.");
     }
 }