Police believe a row between two kindergartens in China's Yunnan province could be the reason for the poisoning at the Jiajia kindergarten, which rocked the small township of Shuanglongyin on Friday.
Doctors battled to help the children without yet knowing what had made them ill after tainted water from a well left some unconscious on the floor and vomiting.
Hospitalised: The alleged attack in China's Yunnan province poisoned 76 children and killed two
Shock: Detectives believe a battle for business between rival nurseries could be to blame for the poisoning
Victims: Children from the nursery who drank the contaminated water began vomiting and collapsed
Police originally thought the poison were in sweets bought as a treat and shared between several of the children, who were aged between three and five.
But they say tests on the wrappers revealed they were not contaminated. The two children who died, Yang Ziyi, four, and Zhou Yulin, five, had also not eaten the sweets.
Now detectives have arrested He Feng, who was the manager of the rival Xiyangyang kindergarten nearby.
He was taken in for questioning, although he had not admitted any wrongdoing.
Police claimed there had recently been a bitter row between the management of the kindergarten where the children were poisoned and a nearby rival.
Danger: The poison is banned because it is highly toxic but completely odourless and colourless
Agonising: Parents had a long wait to know the cause of the attack as doctors battled to treat the symptoms
Taped off: A cordon was thrown around the nursery by police investigating the mass poisoning
TETS has been illegal worldwide since 1984 because it is deadly, yet completely colourless and odourless.
However, it is still illegally produced widely in China because it is relatively easy to make.
It is not the first time it is believed to have been used for mass poisonings in the country. In 2004 there were 74 casualties after a pancake-seller's products were contaminated by a rival.
Two years earlier 400 people were poisoned and 38 died when food was accidentally contaminated by the poison.
Huang Yongji, who works as a cook in the Jiajia nursery, said they had suffered a break-in a day before the poisoning but had not reported it to police is nothing appeared to have been stolen.
Torment: A resident uses their phone to show a photographer a photo thought to be of one young victim
Waiting for news: Parents and children descended on the Qiubei People's Hospital
Police spokesman Feng Lin said: 'Emergency services were called when one of the boys was found unconscious on the floor and was vomiting at the mouth.
'By the time the emergency services arrived a further six children had been taken ill and a full-scale emergency was announced.'
The nursery is one of 13 privately-owned centres in the area, with just three run by the Chinese state. There is bitter competition for attendance fees.
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