Found brown bugs in my filter!

Question

Bugs in tank   I can't find this answer anywhere! When I was cleaning my filters on my freshwater tank today I found 4 bugs, each about 1/2 inch long with 3 legs each side-6 total, 3 dark brown top, 1 lighter, round head with very short tentacles and three straight tail-like things at their hind end in a triangle. They are alive and crawling.
Funny thing is, when I was buying live plants, another customer told she bought plants elsewhere and to be careful, then showed me a picture of the exact same bugs on her phone! But she had no idea what they were either. So i suspect they came on the plants, which are dying left and right, the leaves are turning to string.
Please help identify and with how to eradicate these from the tank?!
Thank you!!!!!!

Answer
Hi Laurie,
The minute I saw the photo I could tell the bugs are some kind of dragonfly or damselfly larva. Do a quick Google search for both to confirm this. Since dragonflies and damselflies lay their eggs in water this would explain how they likely hitched a ride from your supplier of aquatic plants and then got into your aquarium. Probably the best way to get rid of them is to net them out and put them outside. Though they need water to live at this stage. Unless you have a natural water source that you can release them in, just putting them outside is your only option.

I really hope this helps!
Good luck!!
Susan~