Usually starvation I think
Oh man I saw some doing that and I thought they were on the verge of dying.... on my batch #12 when I saw that happening.
They died shortly after I saw them do that.
Do you provide them with plenty of oxygen?
When you are adding the water back into the fry tank (1 gallon) how are you doing that? Drip line are just pouring back into the tank? Is the fresh saltwater or is it from the broodstock tank water that you are using?