diff --git a/lib/protoparser/graphite/parser.go b/lib/protoparser/graphite/parser.go
index 5c1643777..c8d08c1cf 100644
--- a/lib/protoparser/graphite/parser.go
+++ b/lib/protoparser/graphite/parser.go
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ import (
 	"github.com/valyala/fastjson/fastfloat"
 )
 
+// graphite text line protocol may use white space or tab as separator
+// See https://github.com/grobian/carbon-c-relay/commit/f3ffe6cc2b52b07d14acbda649ad3fd6babdd528
+const graphiteSeparators = " \t"
+
 // Rows contains parsed graphite rows.
 type Rows struct {
 	Rows []Row
@@ -84,9 +88,9 @@ func (r *Row) UnmarshalMetricAndTags(s string, tagsPool []Tag) ([]Tag, error) {
 
 func (r *Row) unmarshal(s string, tagsPool []Tag) ([]Tag, error) {
 	r.reset()
-	n := strings.IndexByte(s, ' ')
+	n := strings.IndexAny(s, graphiteSeparators)
 	if n < 0 {
-		return tagsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot find whitespace between metric and value in %q", s)
+		return tagsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot find separator between metric and value in %q", s)
 	}
 	metricAndTags := s[:n]
 	tail := s[n+1:]
@@ -96,7 +100,7 @@ func (r *Row) unmarshal(s string, tagsPool []Tag) ([]Tag, error) {
 		return tagsPool, err
 	}
 
-	n = strings.IndexByte(tail, ' ')
+	n = strings.IndexAny(tail, graphiteSeparators)
 	if n < 0 {
 		// There is no timestamp. Use default timestamp instead.
 		v, err := fastfloat.Parse(tail)
diff --git a/lib/protoparser/graphite/parser_test.go b/lib/protoparser/graphite/parser_test.go
index 85e2cb76e..da986ec2e 100644
--- a/lib/protoparser/graphite/parser_test.go
+++ b/lib/protoparser/graphite/parser_test.go
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 package graphite
 
 import (
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/fasttime"
 	"reflect"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/fasttime"
 )
 
 func TestUnmarshalMetricAndTagsFailure(t *testing.T) {
@@ -258,6 +259,35 @@ func TestRowsUnmarshalSuccess(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 	})
+
+	// With tab as separator
+	// See https://github.com/grobian/carbon-c-relay/commit/f3ffe6cc2b52b07d14acbda649ad3fd6babdd528
+	f("foo.baz\t125.456\t1789\n", &Rows{
+		Rows: []Row{{
+			Metric:    "foo.baz",
+			Value:     125.456,
+			Timestamp: 1789,
+		}},
+	})
+	// With tab as separator and tags
+	f("foo;baz=bar;bb=;y=x;=z\t1\t2", &Rows{
+		Rows: []Row{{
+			Metric: "foo",
+			Tags: []Tag{
+				{
+					Key:   "baz",
+					Value: "bar",
+				},
+				{
+					Key:   "y",
+					Value: "x",
+				},
+			},
+			Value:     1,
+			Timestamp: 2,
+		}},
+	})
+
 }
 
 func Test_streamContext_Read(t *testing.T) {