Fix sync stream bug in SpikeGLXConverterPipe

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 ## Removals, Deprecations and Changes
 
 ## Bug Fixes
+* Fix a bug for avoiding loading the sync stream in `SpikeGLXConverterPipe` [PR #1373](https://github.com/catalystneuro/neuroconv/pull/1373)
 
 ## Features
 * Extra optional kwargs to `BlackrockRecordingInterface` and `BlackrockSortingInterface` for finer control of the neo reader [PR #12](https://github.com/catalystneuro/neuroconv/pull/1290)

src/neuroconv/datainterfaces/ecephys/spikeglx/spikeglxconverter.py

@@ -88,8 +88,10 @@ def __init__(
         data_interfaces = dict()
 
         nidq_streams = [stream_id for stream_id in streams_ids if stream_id == "nidq"]
-        electrical_streams = [stream_id for stream_id in streams_ids if stream_id not in nidq_streams]
-        for stream_id in electrical_streams:
+        sync_streams = [stream_id for stream_id in streams_ids if "SYNC" in stream_id]
+        stream_is_neural = lambda stream_id: stream_id not in nidq_streams and "SYNC" not in sync_streams
+        neural_streams = [stream_id for stream_id in streams_ids if stream_is_neural(stream_id)]
+        for stream_id in neural_streams:
             data_interfaces[stream_id] = SpikeGLXRecordingInterface(folder_path=folder_path, stream_id=stream_id)
 
         for stream_id in nidq_streams:

src/neuroconv/datainterfaces/ecephys/spikeglx/spikeglxdatainterface.py

@@ -71,6 +71,11 @@ def __init__(
                 "SpikeGLXRecordingInterface is not designed to handle nidq files. Use SpikeGLXNIDQInterface instead"
             )
 
+        if stream_id is not None and "SYNC" in stream_id:
+            raise ValueError(
+                "SpikeGLXRecordingInterface is not designed to handle the SYNC stream. Open an issue if you need this functionality."
+            )
+
         if file_path is not None:
             warnings.warn(
                 "file_path is deprecated and will be removed by the end of 2025. "