diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d4b84f62b58..2395a665754 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 - [#3580](https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb/issues/3580): Do not allow wildcards with fields in select statements
 - [#3530](https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb/pull/3530): Aliasing a column no longer works
 - [#3436](https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb/issues/3436): Fix panic in hinted handoff queue processor
+- [#3401](https://github.com/influxdb/influxdb/issues/3401): Derivative on non-numeric fields panics db
 
 ## v0.9.2 [2015-07-24]
 
diff --git a/tsdb/executor.go b/tsdb/executor.go
index f7b9d7bf8ed..bc1b84a9f78 100644
--- a/tsdb/executor.go
+++ b/tsdb/executor.go
@@ -757,14 +757,31 @@ type RawQueryDerivativeProcessor struct {
 	DerivativeInterval         time.Duration
 }
 
+func (rqdp *RawQueryDerivativeProcessor) canProcess(input []*MapperValue) bool {
+	// If we only have 1 value, then the value did not change, so return
+	// a single row with 0.0
+	if len(input) == 1 {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	// See if the field value is numeric, if it's not, we can't process the derivative
+	validType := false
+	switch input[0].Value.(type) {
+	case int64:
+		validType = true
+	case float64:
+		validType = true
+	}
+
+	return validType
+}
+
 func (rqdp *RawQueryDerivativeProcessor) Process(input []*MapperValue) []*MapperValue {
 	if len(input) == 0 {
 		return input
 	}
 
-	// If we only have 1 value, then the value did not change, so return
-	// a single row with 0.0
-	if len(input) == 1 {
+	if !rqdp.canProcess(input) {
 		return []*MapperValue{
 			&MapperValue{
 				Time:  input[0].Time,
@@ -858,6 +875,22 @@ func ProcessAggregateDerivative(results [][]interface{}, isNonNegative bool, int
 		}
 	}
 
+	// Check the value's type to ensure it's an numeric, if not, return a 0 result. We only check the first value
+	// because derivatives cannot be combined with other aggregates currently.
+	validType := false
+	switch results[0][1].(type) {
+	case int64:
+		validType = true
+	case float64:
+		validType = true
+	}
+
+	if !validType {
+		return [][]interface{}{
+			[]interface{}{results[0][0], 0.0},
+		}
+	}
+
 	// Otherwise calculate the derivatives as the difference between consecutive
 	// points divided by the elapsed time.  Then normalize to the requested
 	// interval.
diff --git a/tsdb/executor_test.go b/tsdb/executor_test.go
index d1d01faffed..3ada0cf6478 100644
--- a/tsdb/executor_test.go
+++ b/tsdb/executor_test.go
@@ -579,7 +579,7 @@ func TestProcessAggregateDerivative(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 		{
-			name:     "float derivatives",
+			name:     "integer derivatives",
 			fn:       "derivative",
 			interval: 24 * time.Hour,
 			in: [][]interface{}{
@@ -608,6 +608,30 @@ func TestProcessAggregateDerivative(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name:     "string derivatives",
+			fn:       "derivative",
+			interval: 24 * time.Hour,
+			in: [][]interface{}{
+				[]interface{}{
+					time.Unix(0, 0), "1.0",
+				},
+				[]interface{}{
+					time.Unix(0, 0).Add(24 * time.Hour), "2.0",
+				},
+				[]interface{}{
+					time.Unix(0, 0).Add(48 * time.Hour), "3.0",
+				},
+				[]interface{}{
+					time.Unix(0, 0).Add(72 * time.Hour), "4.0",
+				},
+			},
+			exp: [][]interface{}{
+				[]interface{}{
+					time.Unix(0, 0), 0.0,
+				},
+			},
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, test := range tests {
@@ -697,6 +721,43 @@ func TestProcessRawQueryDerivative(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name:     "integer derivative",
+			fn:       "derivative",
+			interval: 24 * time.Hour,
+			in: []*tsdb.MapperValue{
+				{
+					Time:  time.Unix(0, 0).Unix(),
+					Value: int64(0),
+				},
+				{
+					Time:  time.Unix(0, 0).Add(24 * time.Hour).UnixNano(),
+					Value: int64(3),
+				},
+				{
+					Time:  time.Unix(0, 0).Add(48 * time.Hour).UnixNano(),
+					Value: int64(5),
+				},
+				{
+					Time:  time.Unix(0, 0).Add(72 * time.Hour).UnixNano(),
+					Value: int64(9),
+				},
+			},
+			exp: []*tsdb.MapperValue{
+				{
+					Time:  time.Unix(0, 0).Add(24 * time.Hour).UnixNano(),
+					Value: 3.0,
+				},
+				{
+					Time:  time.Unix(0, 0).Add(48 * time.Hour).UnixNano(),
+					Value: 2.0,
+				},
+				{
+					Time:  time.Unix(0, 0).Add(72 * time.Hour).UnixNano(),
+					Value: 4.0,
+				},
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			name:     "12h interval",
 			fn:       "derivative",
@@ -806,6 +867,35 @@ func TestProcessRawQueryDerivative(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name:     "string derivatives",
+			fn:       "derivative",
+			interval: 24 * time.Hour,
+			in: []*tsdb.MapperValue{
+				{
+					Time:  time.Unix(0, 0).Unix(),
+					Value: "1.0",
+				},
+				{
+					Time:  time.Unix(0, 0).Add(24 * time.Hour).UnixNano(),
+					Value: "2.0",
+				},
+				{
+					Time:  time.Unix(0, 0).Add(48 * time.Hour).UnixNano(),
+					Value: "3.0",
+				},
+				{
+					Time:  time.Unix(0, 0).Add(72 * time.Hour).UnixNano(),
+					Value: "4.0",
+				},
+			},
+			exp: []*tsdb.MapperValue{
+				{
+					Time:  time.Unix(0, 0).Unix(),
+					Value: 0.0,
+				},
+			},
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, test := range tests {